ty. Guided by these lights, let us
approach the study of "_the men of Athens_."

_Attica_, of which Athens was the capital, and whose entire populations
were called "Athenians," was the most important of all the Hellenic
states. It is a triangular peninsula, the base of which is defined by
the high mountain ranges of Cithaeron and Parnes, whilst the two other
sides are washed by the sea, having their vertex at the promontory of
Sunium, or Cape Colonna. The prolongation of the south-western line
towards the north until it reaches the base at the foot of Mount
Cithaeron, served as the line of demarkation between the Athenian
territory and the State of Megara. Thus Attica may be generally
described as bounded on the north-east by the channel of the Negropont;
on the south-west by the gulf of AEgina and part of Megara; and on the
north-west by the territory which formed the ancient Boeotia, including
within its limits an area of about 750 miles.[11]

Hills of inferior elevation connect the mountain ranges of Cithaeron and
Parnes with the mountainous surface of the south-east of the peninsula.
These hills, commencing with the promontory of Sunium itself, which
forms the vertex of the triangle, rise gradually on the south-east to
the round summit of Hymettus, and onward to the higher peak of
Pentelicus, near Marathon, on the east. The rest of Attica is all a
plain, one reach of which comes down to the sea on the south, at the
very base of Hymettus. Here, about five miles from the shore, an abrupt
rock rises from the plain, about 200 feet high, bordered on the south by
lower eminences. That rock is the Acropolis. Those lower eminences are
the Areopagus, the Pmyx, and the Museum. In the valley formed by these
four hills we have the Agora, and the varied undulations of these hills
determine the features of the city of Athens.[12]

[Footnote 11: See art. "Attica," _Encyc. Brit._]

[Footnote 12: See Conybeare and Howson's "Life and Epistles of St.
Paul," vol. i. p. 346.]

Nearly all writers on the topography of Athens derive their materials
from Pausanias, who visited the city in the early part of the second
century, and whose "Itinerary of Greece" is still extant.[13] He entered
the city by the Peiraic gate, the same gate at which Paul entered some
sixty years before. We shall place ourselves under his guidance, and, so
far as we are able, follow the same course, supplying some omissions, as
we go along, from other sources.