Among the monuments of antiquity which still exist at Athens, the most striking are those which surmount the Acropolis, or Cecropian citadel, which is a rocky height rising abruptly out of the Attic plain, and accessible only on the western side, where stood the Propyle'a, & magnificent structure of the Doric order, which served as the gate as well as the defence of the Acropolis. But the chief glory of Athens was the Parthenon, or temple of Minerva, which stood on the highest point, and near the centre, of the Acrop' olis. It was constructed entirely of the most beautiful white marble from Mount Pentel' licus, and its dimensions were two hundred and twenty-eight feet by one hundred and two-having eight Doric columns in each of the two fronts, and seventeen in each of the sides, and also an interior range of six columns in each end. The ceiling of the western part of the main building was supported by four interior columns, and of the eastern end by sixteen. The entire height of the building above its platform was sixty-five feet. The whole was enriched, within and without, with matchless works of art by the first sculptors of Greece. This magnificent structure remained entire until the year 1687, when, during a siege of Athens by the Venetians, a bomb fell on the devoted Par' thenon, and setting fire to the powder which the Turks had stored there, entirely destroyed the roof, and reduced the whole building almost to ruins. The eight columns of the eastern front, however, and several of the lateral colonnades, are still standing, and the whole, dilapidated as it is, still retains an air of inexpressible grandeur and sublimity.

North of the Par' thenon stood the Erechtkéium, an irregular but beautiful structure of the Ionic order, dedicated to the worship of Neptune and Minerva. Considerable remains of it are still existing. In addition to the three great edifices of the Acrop' olis, which were adorned with the most finished paintings and sculptures, the entire platform of the hill appears to have been covered with a vast composition of architecture and sculpture, consisting of temples, monuments, and statues of Grecian gods and heroes. Among these may be mentioned statues of Jupiter, Apollo, Neptune, Mercury, Venus, and Minerva; and a vast number of statues of eminent Grecians-the whole Acrop' olis having been at once the fortress, the sacred enclosure, and the treasury of the Athenian nation, and forming the noblest museum of sculpture, the richest gallery of painting, and the best school of architecture in the world.

Beneath the southern wall of the Acrop' olis, near its eastern extremity, was the Theatre of Bacchus, which was capable of containing thirty thousand persons, and whose seats, rising one above another, were cut out of the sloping rock. Adjoining this on the east was the Odeum built by Pericles, and beneath the western extremity of the Acrop' olis was the Odéum or Musical Theatre, constructed in the form of a tent. On the north-east side of the Acropolis stood the Prytaneum, where were many statues, and where citizens who had rendered service to the State were maintained at the public expense. A short distance to the north-west of the Acrop' olis was the small eminence called Areop' agus, or hill of Mars, at the eastern extremity of which was situated the celebrated court of the Areop' agus. About a quarter of a mile south-west stood the Payr, the place where the public assemblies of Athens were held in its palmy days, a spot that will ever be associated with the renown of Demosthenes, and other famed Athenian orators. The steps by which the speaker mounted the rostrum, and a tier of three seats for the audience, hewn in the solid rock, are still visible. A short distance south of the Pnyx was the eminence called the Museum, that part of Athens where the poet Musaus is said

to have been buried.

In the Ceramicus, north and west of the Acropolis, one of the most considerable parts of the ancient city, were many public buildings, some dedicated to the worship of the gods, others used for stores, and for the various markets, and some for schools, while the old Forum, often used for large assemblies of the people, occupied the interior. North of the Areop' agus is the Temple of Theseus, built of marble by Cimon. The roof, friezes, and cornices, of this temple, have been but little impaired by time, and the whole is one of the most noble remains of the ancient magnificence of Athens, and the most perfect, if not the most beautiful, existing specimen of Grecian architecture.

South-east of the Acropolis, and near the Ilissus, is now to be seen a cluster of sixteen magnificent Corinthian columns of Pentelic marble, the only remaining ones of a hundred and twenty, which mark the site of the Temple of Jupiter Olympius. On the left bank of the Ilissus was the Stádium, used for gymnastic contests, and capable of accommodating twenty-five

thousand persons. The marble seats have disappeared, but the masses of masonry which formed the semi-circular end still remain.

Just without the ancient city walls on the east was the Lyceum, embellished with buildings, groves, and fountains,-a place of assembling for military and gymnastic exercises, and a favorite resort for philosophical study and contemplation. Near the foot of Mount Anchesmus was the Cynosar' ges, a place adorned with several temples, a gymnasium, and groves sacred to Hercules. Beyond the walls of the city on the north was the Academy, or Public Garden,surrounded with a wall, and adorned with statues, temples, and sepulchres of illustrious men, and planted with olive and plane trees. Within this enclosure Plato possessed a small garden, in which he opened his school. Thence arose the Academic sect.

Athens had three great harbors, the Pira' us, Munych ia, and Phal' erum. Anciently these ports formed a separate city larger than Athens itself, with which they were connected by means of two long walls. During the prolonged conflict of the revolutionary war in Greece, from 1820 to 1827, Athens was in ruins, but it is the now capital of the kingdom of Greece. The philosophical era in the history of Athens has been beautifully alluded to by Milton. "See there the olive grove of Academe,

Plato's retirement, where the Attic bird

Trills her thick-warbled notes the summer-long:
There flowery hill Hymettus with the sound

Of bees' industrious murmur oft invites

To studious musing; There Ilissus rolls

His whispering stream: within the walls then view

The schools of ancient sages; his who bred

Great Alexander to subdue the world,

Lyceum there, and painted Stoa next;

To sage philosophy next lend thine ear,

From Heaven descended to the low-roofed house
Of Socrates; see there his tenement,

Whom, well inspired, the oracle pronounced
Wisest of men; from whose mouth issued forth
Mellifluous streams that water'd all the schools
Of Academics old and new, with those
Surnamed Peripatetics, and the sect
Epicurean, and the Stoic severe."

ISLANDS OF THE EGEAN. Map No. III.

The EGEAN SEA, now called the Archipelago, is that part of the Mediterranean lying between Greece, the islands Crete and Rhodes, and Asia Minor. It embraces those groups of Islands, the Cyclades and the Spor' ades ;* also Eubœ'a, Lesbos, Chios, Tenedos, Lemnos, &c., nearly all of which cluster with interesting classical associations. Mentioning only the most important in history, and beginning in the northern Archipelago, we have Thasos, now Theso or Tasso, early colonized by the Phoenicians on account of its valuable silver mines:-Samothrace, where the mysteries of Cybele, the "Mother of the Gods," are said to have originated :-LemnOS, known in ancient mythology as the spot on which Vulcan fell, after being hurled down from heaven, and where he established his forge:-Tenedos, whither the Greeks retired, as Virgil relates, in order to surprise the Trojans :-Lesbos, celebrated for its olive oil and figs, and as being the abode of pleasure and licentiousness, while the inhabitants boasted a high degree of intellectual cultivation, and, especially, great musical attainments:-Chios, now Scio, called the garden of the Archipelago, and claimed to have been the birthplace of Homer:-Samos, early distinguished in the maritime annals of Greece for its naval ascendency, and for its splendid temple of Juno:-Icaria, whose name mythology derives from Ic' arus, who fell into the sea near the island after the unfortunate termination of his flight from Crete:-Patmos, to which St. John was banished, and where he wrote his Apocalypse:-Cos, celebrated for its temple of Esculapius, and as being the birthplace of Hippocrates, the greatest physician of antiquity :Nisyrus, said to have been separated from Cos by Neptune, that he might hurl it against the

The division between the Cyc' lades and Spor' ades, on the accompanying Map, should include the islands Ascania, Thera, and Anaphe, among the latter.