The Topography of Athens
With Some Remarks on its Antiquities

A pioneering historical reconstruction of the main buildings and landmarks of ancient Athens, first published in 1821.

William Martin Leake (Author)

9781108017626, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 26 August 2010

596 pages, 5 b/w illus. 3 maps
21.6 x 14 x 3.4 cm, 0.75 kg

William Martin Leake (1777–1860) was a British military officer and classical scholar specialising in reconstructing the topography of ancient cities. He was a founding member of the Royal Geographical Society and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1815. After his retirement in 1815 he devoted the rest of his life to topographical and classical studies. First published in 1821, this pioneering volume contains Leake's reconstruction of ancient Athens. Leake analyses and compares ancient descriptions of the city with the archaeological remains as they existed at the time of publication, identifying ancient structures and suggesting where the remains of other buildings may be found by excavation. This book was regarded as authoritative for the structures of ancient Athens for most of the nineteenth century, with Leake's work being influential in shaping perceptions of classical archaeology and historical topography into the twentieth century.

Introduction
1. The description of Athens by Pausanias
2. Of the positions and existing monuments of ancient Athens, concerning the identity of which there can be little or no doubt
3. Of Mounts Anchesmus and Lycabettus. Of Dipylum and the Peiraic Gate
4. First part of the route of Pausanias. From the Stoa Basileius to Enneacrunnus
5. Second part of the route of Pausanius. From the Stoa Basileius to Prytaneium
6. Third part of the route of Pausanius. From the Prytaneium to the Stadium
7. Fourth part of the route of Pausanius. From the Prytaneium to the Propylaea of the Acropolis
8. Fifth and last part of the description of Pausanius. The Acropolis, Areiopagus, and Academy
9. Of Peiraeeus, Munychia, and Phalerum. Of the Long Walls, and other fortifications of the city.

Subject Areas: Classical Greek & Roman archaeology [HDDK]