The gold and ivory statue of
Jupiter was, like that of Minerva, the production of the masterly
hand of Phidias. All the temples and buildings were of pure white
marble.
Not far from the Areopagus is the Pnyx, where the free people of
Athens met in council. Of this nothing more remains than the
rostrum, hewn in the rock, and the seat of the scribe. What
feelings agitate the mind when it is remembered what men have stood
there and spoke from that spot!
It was with sadness that I examined the cave near here where
Socrates was imprisoned and poisoned. Above this memorable grotto
stands a plain monument erected in memory of Philopapoe.
The Turks surrounded the Acropolis with a broad wall, in the
building of which they made use of many fragments of columns and
other remains of the most beautiful temples.
No remnants of antiquity are to be seen in the old town of Athens
except the Tower of the Winds, or, as others call it, Diogenes'
Lantern, a small temple in the form of an octagon, covered with fine
sculpture; also the monument of Lysicrates.
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