er increasing with the height. It was no doubt sufficiently
large to accommodate the whole body of Athenian citizens, as well as
the strangers who flocked to Athens during the Dionysiac festival, but
its dimensions cannot now be accurately ascertained. It had no roof,
but the spectators were probably protected from the sun by an awning,
and from their elevated seats they had a distinct view of the sea, and
of the peaked hills of Salamis in the horizon. Above them rose the
Parthenon and the other buildings of the Acropolis, so that they sat
under the shadow of the ancestral gods of the country.

The Areopagus, or Hill of Ares (Mars), was a rocky height opposite the
western end of the Acropolis, from which it was separated only by some
hollow ground. It derived its name from the tradition that Ares (Mars)
was brought to trial here before the assembled gods, by Poseidon
(Neptune), for murdering Halirrhothius the son of the latter. It was
here that the Council of Areopagus met, frequently called the Upper
Council, to distinguish it from the Council of Five Hundred, which
assembled in the valley below. The Areopagites sat as judges in the
open air, and two blocks of stone are still to be seen, probably those
which were occupied respectively by the accuser and the accused. The
Areopagus was the spot where the Apostle Paul preached to the men of
Athens.

The Pnyx, or place for holding the public assemblies of the Athenians,
stood on the side of a low rocky hill, at the distance of about a
quarter of a mile from the Areopagus. Projecting from the hill and
hewn out of it, still stands a solid rectangular block, called the Bema
or pulpit, from whence the orators addressed the multitude in the area
before them. The position of the Bema commanded a view of the
Propylaea and the other magnificent edifices of the Acropolis, while
beneath it was the city itself studded with monuments of Athenian
glory. The Athenian orators frequently roused the national feelings of
their audience by pointing to the Propylaea and to the other splendid
buildings before them. Between the Pnyx on the west, the Areopagus on
the north, and the Acropolis on the east, and closely adjoining the
base of these hills, stood the Agora (or market-place). In a direction
from north-west to south-east a street called the Ceramicus ran
diagonally through the Agora, entering it through the valley between
the Pnyx and the Areopagus. The street was named afte