Greek Inscriptions

Extract

The systematic excavation of the Outer Ceramicus, carried on in a series of campaigns under the direction of Dr. Alfred Brueckner, has thrown valuable light upon one of the most interesting portions of ancient Athens. There, lining the road which led from the Dipylon Gate to the Academy, lay the tombs of those who had given their lives in battle for Athens or had rendered to her some other signal service. Pausanias the traveller passed along that road, and he has left us a brief catalogue, interspersed with historical comments, of some of the monuments which flanked it (i. 29.3–16). Here were buried not only statesmen such as Cleisthenes, Ephialtes, and Pericles, public financiers such as Eubulus and Lycurgus, generals and admirals such as Phormio, Thrasybulus, Conon, Timotheus, and Chabrias, but also outstanding figures in the realm of thought and of art—Zeno, the founder, Chrysippus, the reorganizer, of the Stoic School, and Nicias, the foremost figure-painter of his day. Of the more striking achievements of the Hellenic world only literature and sculpture are unrepresented in Pausanias’ list.