Evening star., 1934-09-15
WASHINGTON BUILT.
ON ATHENS STYLE.
Classical Architecture of
u. S. Buildings Is Taken
From Ancient City.
ftsontinued From First Page.)

lines of Washington as sketched by
Mai. l.Enfant. In any case. he made
the principal arteries Of travel radiate
from fhe Place de In Concorde. The
road 10 Piraeus, Athens street. Stadion
street and University street might be
compared with Massachusetts, avenue,
ntgticut avenue and New Hamp-
shire avenue as they run north from
Dupont Circle Piraeus, however, Is
geogrs phically situated In the relation
Of A. sxandria to Washington and
appro imately the same distance
away.
But Of the two cities. Athens Is the
smaller in area and the larger IN popu-
lation It occupies about five square
miles and houses about 100000 people.
Ane emily, however, the focal center
OF Attica was even less expensive.
1t occupied four hills-the Acropolis,
tire Hreopagus. the Pnyx and the
Musel n-and was bounded on the
east b. the Ilissus and on the west by
the Cephissus. two streams of little
protet tive significance. Two massive
walls we're raised In the fifth century.
BIC. so feet apart, to connect Athens
prope with Piraeus. the so-called
Asty 18th the Polls; and citadel walls
lil1ewi e were put up around the
Acrop Ills Hill.
The chief ornament of the last
name elevation was the Parthenon
or Te1 1ple of Athena Parthenos. Con-
siderei by many the most harmonious
edifct in the world, its ruins still are
Ell ot Iect of pilgrimage to art-lovers
from near and far. Built under the
e1lida ice Of Pericles, it was finished
ir, 49, BIC. The dimensions were 228
feet ling. 101 feet wide and Sc feet
high. OF the Doric order, its material
was Fentelic marble on basement OF
lirnes' one. There were eight noble
colum MS at each end and II Of the
same style and size on each side, the
shafts being feet in diameter at the
base and "a feet in height. The
srchit ects, tradition declares, were
c;Allic .ates and Tetinos, and the
seulpt ured friezes and pediments were
TIE work of Phidias. Inside the temple
was ;,n efigy of Athena, 42R feet
tsll, covered with ivory and gold.
Propulaea Nearby.
Nea rest neighbor to the Parthenon
was he Propulaea, also of white
Ftante ic marble, begun in 437 BIC,
perhaps never completed, but glorious
struct Ire even In Its unfinished con-
dItion It was q majestic entrance
haIl, standing at the top of staircase
OF ma rble 10 feet broad. Conceived by
Ptricls IS, it was executed by Mnesicles,
ard las been the inspiration of q
lie zion Of limitations. The Branden-
burger Thor In Berlin Is but one OF
the m onuments 1t prompted.
A third building in the Acropolis
sr oup was the Erechtheum. O double
te alph sacred to Athena Polias,
eu arciian of the city, and to Erechtheus,
70 omder of the city. 1t was begun at
al un determined date, completed In
4c7B B.C, repaired for use as a church
fn the first century AID, damaged
ir the siege of 1927, partially recon-
st .uctasd between 1888 and 1846, and
asain restored as recently as 1928.
L ,rc Elgin carried to London one of
It, columns and one of its caryatides,
Ia ;er replaced bv terra-cotta rep
III as. Prof. Talbot Hamlin says:
'~ he fame Of the Erechtheum de-
pt nds largely upon the exquisite per-
fe .tipn of its detail the Ionic
CO pitals are the most exquisite that
G .eece has produced"
The Pnyx, archeologists suppose,
was a sanctuary Of Zeus and possibly
the meeting place of the Athenian
Assem- by. A huge theater-like struc-
ture las been traced and many pre-
fistor dwellings have been excavated.
Three chambers, cut In the rock Of one
side, have been called "the prison OF
Socrates"
Scene of Council Meeting.
On the Areopagus the old oligar-
ehical council met, and 1t also has
beer identified as the place Of trial
or ordeal. The altar Of Athena Areia
and the sanctuary Of the Erinyes
were features Of the hill in ancient
times. st. Paul Is thought to have
addressed the populace in this neigh
borfiood.
The center Of the commercial and
civil. life Of Athens was in the Agora
or market, believed to have occupied
the hollow between the Acropolis and
the Enyx. In the vicinity were the
Orchestra, where Dionysiac dances
were performed: the Metroon or
tempe of the Mother of the Gods;
the Bouleuterion or council chamber
iof the Five Hundred the Prytaneum
or hearth Of the combined commune
ties where guests of the state were
cinni; the temple of the Dioscuri; the
'rhelos, circular stone-domed build
ing where the Prytaneis were main
taired at state expense: the Leo
corilln. and the School of Zeno. All
have disappeared through ages of war
sano revolution, and even their posi-
4iors are largely conjectural.
: Building operations were going for
wait in Athens for centuries. The
Grttks had a construction instinct
with they expressed generation
aftas' generation until the whole city
was filled with graceful edifices. A
tw.ntieth century visitor well might
wotraer where the population found
domestic shelter in a community so
crowded with public and Semi-public
ha Il of every conceivable kind. Prob
abtv the explanation is to be found
In the theory that the multitudes
dvtit in frame tenements outside the
wells.
Ptolemy Built Gymnasium.
AFTER the age of Alexander" Prof
Hflnlin writes. Athens was adorned
wiz many new buildings, a tribute
pail to her intellectual renown by
oltign potentates or dilettanti, who
des red to add their names to the list
Of !tS illustrious citizens and patrons"
Pt;lemy raised a great gymnasium,
Eulnenes II a long portico west of
TIL, Dionysiac Theater, and Attalus II
o magnificent Stoa near the Agora.
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