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General Forum >> The Central Role of Rivers and Springs in Ancient Athens
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The Central Role of Rivers and Springs in Ancient Athens |
bat400
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from South Central Indiana, US
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|  Posted 26-02-2012 at 22:07
coldrum supplies an interesting article by John Leonard on the ancient water course of Athens and their impact on the ancient city. See the excerpt and link:
Now covered over or dried up, the Ilissos, Eridanos and Kifissos gave life to the city
Archaeologists have many tools at their disposal these days, from handpicks and sharp triangular trowels for excavation to sophisticated computer-graphic software and high-tech laboratory processes for virtual reconstruction and date determination. But the most basic, powerful equipment in the diverse archaeological toolkit remains the imagination. With the ancient landscape in Athens now buried beneath asphalt streets and massive modern buildings, the imagination is more important than ever for both archaeologists and laymen alike when considering the physical setting in which past Athenians once pursued their daily lives. The huge disparity between the comparatively natural landscape that lay around the Athenian Acropolis and today’s paved-over urban environment makes it difficult to comprehend just how different Athens once was but small topographical clues survive on and under the ground.
Open, free-flowing watercourses and freshwater springs are one of the most conspicuous natural features of the ancient landscape missing in today’s central Athenian environment. Two perennial rivers flowed through ancient Athens – the Eridanos and the Ilissos. The Eridanos, rising from beneath Mount Lycabettus, followed a course north of the Acropolis, past the Athenian Agora and the gates and cemetery of the Kerameikos. The Ilissos, streaming down from Mt Hymettus, where its headwaters included a spring still to be seen at Kaisariani Monastery, ran south of the Acropolis along a route today delineated in part by sections of Vassileos Constantinou, Ardittou and Kallirrois streets. These two rivers (actually streams) came together west of the Acropolis, flowed into the larger Kifissos, and eventually emptied into the sea at Faliro Bay.
The Eridanos and Ilissos rivers were vital sources of fresh water in antiquity for drinking, washing, cooking, religious purification, industry and waste removal. Portions of the Eridanos, running through the heart of the ancient city, were already lined with built walls by 478 BC.
The riverbanks of ancient Athens were areas where city dwellers could find not only water but also cool, shady retreats in which to socialize, worship, practice military and athletic skills or pursue their studies. To imagine the relative lushness that once characterized these areas, one might extrapolate from the delightful microenvironment still preserved in the Kerameikos, where the Eridanos’ now-tiny channel continues to be lined with tall reeds and seasonally inhabited by croaking frogs. The Ilissos, too, until the late 19th century, was abundantly reedy, frequently flooded and known locally as a haven for frogs. Unlike today, however, trees grew sparsely in ancient Athens. The slopes and plains surrounding the Acropolis were probably quite barren of trees. But along riverbanks, trees and bushes were a more common feature. Plato (“Phaedrus” 229) describes Socrates and Phaedrus strolling along the northern bank of the Ilissos, crossing the stream bed, then finding a large plane tree (platanos) under which to rest – probably located, according to archaeologist John Travlos, at the foot of Ardittos Hill where the Panathenaic Stadium was later built. Phaedrus remarks, “I am fortunate, it seems, in being barefoot; you are so always. It is easiest then for us to go along the brook with our feet in the water and it is not unpleasant, especially at this time of the year and the day.” Then he asks Socrates, “Do you see that very tall plane tree?... There is shade there and a moderate breeze and grass to sit on...”
Three gymnasia were erected in the 6th century BC beside Athens’ rivers: the Academy near the Kifissos, the Lyceum near the Eridanos and the Kynosarges near the Ilissos. Shrines and temples were also familiar riverside features – especially along the Ilissos. The area of the Kallirroe Spring, which once spilled into the Ilissos just south of the Olympieion, was a particular focus of worship. Participants in the Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries may have purified themselves there. Nearby, altars, shrines and temples were dedicated to various divinities including Boreas, the Ilissian Muses, Cronus and Rhea, Zeus and Hera, Apollo Delphinios, Artemis Agrotera, Pan, Acheloos and the Nymphs.
The importance of local water resources, especially rivers, to the ancient Athenians was visually demonstrated by two sculpted figures of river gods accompanied by two water nymphs at each end of the Parthenon’s Western Pediment (as reconstructed by specialist Olga Palagia), which represented the Eridanos and Ilissos rivers and provided a geographical framework for the pediment’s main scene – just as the real rivers similarly framed the city of Athens. The Ilissos finally disappeared during street development in the 1950s but the Eridanos can still be seen, and heard, in the Kerameikos and beneath Monastiraki Square.
Thanks to coldrum for the link to http://www.ekathimerini.com
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