said to have exceeded in beauty and
magnificence all the buildings of Athens. The exterior was
decorated by one hundred and twenty fluted columns six feet in
diameter and fifty-nine in height. 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. This consists of a
pedestal, some columns, and a dome in the Corinthian style.

The chapel Maria Maggiore, is said to have been built by the
Venetians, 700 years after Christ. Its greatest peculiarity is that
it was the first Christian church in Athens.

The view of the whole country from the Acropolis is also very
interesting; there can be seen the Hymetos, the Pentelikon, towards
Eleusis, Marathon, Phylae, and Dekelea, the harbour, the sea, and
the course of the Ilissus.

Athens contains a considerable number of houses, most of which are,
however, small and unimportant; the beautiful country-houses, on the
contrary, surrounded by tasty gardens, have a very agreeable
appearance.

The small observatory was built by Baron Sina, the well-known banker
in Vienna, who is by birth a Greek.

The royal palace, which is of modern date, is built of brilliant
white marble, in the form of a large quadrangle. On two sides,
which occupy a large part of the breadth of the wings, under a
peristyle, is a kind of small porch which rests upon pillars. The
one approach is for the ministers, ambassadors, etc., the other for
the royal family. With the exception of these two peristyles, the
w