identical with the god Poseidon. He was worshipped in his
temple under the name of Poseidon Erechtheus, and from the earliest
times was associated with Athena as one of the two protecting deities
of Athens. The original Erechtheum was burnt by the Persians, but the
new temple was erected on the ancient site. This could not have been
otherwise; for on this spot was the sacred olive-tree which Athena
evoked from the earth in her contest with Poseidon, and also the well
of salt-water which Poseidon produced by a stroke of his trident, the
impression of which was seen upon the rock. The building was also
called the temple of Athena Polias, because it contained a separate
sanctuary of the goddess, as well as her most ancient statue. The
building of the new Erechtheum was not commenced till the Parthenon and
Propylaea were finished, and probably not before the year preceding the
breaking out of the Peloponnesian war. Its progress was no doubt
delayed by that event, and it was probably not completed before 393
B.C. When finished it presented one of the finest models of the Ionic
order, as the Parthenon was of the Doric, It stood to the north of the
latter building and close to the northern wall of the Acropolis. The
form of the Erechtheum differed from every known example of a Grecian
temple. Usually a Grecian temple was an oblong figure with a portico
at each extremity. The Erechtheum, on the contrary, though oblong in
shape and having a portico at the eastern or principal front, had none
at its western end, where, however, a portico projected north and south
from either side, thus forming a kind of transept. This irregularity
seems to have been chiefly owing to the necessity of preserving the
different sanctuaries and religious objects belonging to the ancient
temple. A view of it is given opposite. The roof of the southern
portico, as shown in the view, was supported by six Caryatides.

Such were the principal objects which adorned the Acropolis at the time
of which we are now speaking. Their general appearance will be best
gathered from the engraving on the Frontispiece.

Before quitting the city of Athens, there are two or three other
objects of interest which must be briefly described. First, the
Dionysiac theatre, which occupied the slope at the south-eastern
extremity of the Acropolis. The middle of it was excavated out of the
rock, and the rows of seats ascended in curves one above another, the
diamet