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67-533: The Pnyx is located less than 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) west of the Acropolis and about 2 km south-west of the Syntagma Square in the centre of Athens. The "mainly natural hollow" was first used from before 500 BC to perhaps 404 BC, when the arrangement was changed by adding a retaining wall below the speakers' platform, with the space between filled with earth. The Pnyx was probably the prototype for

134-621: A defense wall built in the fourth century BC and reconstructed a century later. The new walls, made of almost solid masonry and ashlar blocks , were two-meter thick. The stretch began on a northern end with a tower that stood south of the Melitides Gate of the Themistoclean Wall and ended at the western end of the summit where it joined the Diateichisma. The wall featured seven towers set with 40-meter interval while

201-809: A fortress. During the Byzantine period, the Parthenon was used as a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary . During the Latin Duchy of Athens , the Acropolis functioned as the city's administrative center, with the Parthenon as its cathedral, and the Propylaea as part of the ducal palace. A large tower was added, the Frankopyrgos (Frankish Tower), demolished during the 19th century. After

268-501: A monumental gate at the western end of the Acropolis with Doric columns of Pentelic marble, built partly upon the old Propylaea of Peisistratos. These colonnades were almost finished during 432 BC and had two wings, the northern one decorated with paintings by Polygnotus . About the same time, south of the Propylaea, building started on the small Ionic Temple of Athena Nike in Pentelic marble with tetrastyle porches, preserving

335-531: A reasonable estimate of the number of politically active citizens (citizens were free males born in the city, or perhaps 20% of the adult population). There were wooden seats for the members of the Council of 500, who were selected by lot for terms of a single year to run the city on a day-to-day basis, and prepare the agenda for the Assembly. In later times two stoae , or covered galleries, were built to protect

402-667: A right to be heard first. Democratic government at Athens was suspended in 411 BC and again in 404 BC with the assumption of power by oligarchies during crises in the Peloponnesian War . The Spartans and their allies in Athens installed a dictatorship, called the Thirty Tyrants , but in 403 BC the democrats seized power again and the meetings at the Pnyx resumed. Athens lost its independence to Philip II of Macedon after

469-641: A single limestone column base and pieces of several sandstone steps. Soon after the palace was constructed, a Cyclopean massive circuit wall was built, 760 meters long, up to 10 meters high, and ranging from 3.5 to 6 meters thick. From the end of the Helladic IIIB (1300–1200 BC) on, this wall would serve as the main defense for the acropolis until the 5th century. The wall consisted of two parapets built with large stone blocks and cemented with an earth mortar called emplekton (Greek: ἔμπλεκτον). The wall uses typical Mycenaean conventions in that it followed

536-620: Is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens , Greece, and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, the most famous being the Parthenon . The word Acropolis is from the Greek words ἄκρον ( akron , "highest point, extremity") and πόλις ( polis , "city"). The term acropolis is generic and there are many other acropoleis in Greece . During ancient times

603-457: Is known about the original plan of the interior, which was destroyed by fire during the first century BC and has been rebuilt several times. During the same period, a combination of sacred precincts including the temples of Athena Polias, Poseidon , Erechtheus , Cecrops , Herse , Pandrosos and Aglauros , with its Kore Porch (Porch of the Maidens) or Caryatids' Balcony was begun. Between

670-426: Is lined with six Ionic columns. Unusually, the temple has two porches, one on the northwest corner borne by Ionic columns, the other, to the southwest, supported by huge female figures or caryatids . The eastern part of the temple was dedicated to Athena Polias , while the western part, serving the cult of the archaic king Poseidon-Erechtheus , housed the altars of Hephaestus and Voutos, brother of Erechtheus. Little

737-427: Is restored by the excavators) is not that much larger than Pnyx I. Pnyx III: The Pnyx was rebuilt and expanded in the 3rd quarter of the 4th century B.C., probably around 345-335 B.C. A massive, curved, retaining wall was built (or at least begun) on the north. The southern side of the auditorium and speaker's platform (bema) were quarried out of the natural bedrock. (Traces of the quarrying process can still be seen at

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804-571: Is the now partially reconstructed Odeon of Herodes Atticus . All the valuable ancient artifacts are situated in the Acropolis Museum , which resides on the southern slope of the same rock, 280 metres from the Parthenon. Site plan of the Acropolis at Athens showing the major archaeological remains. The Acropolis Restoration Project began in 1975 to reverse the decay of centuries of attrition, pollution, destruction from military actions, and misguided past restorations. The project included

871-637: The Attalid kings of Pergamon Attalos II (in front of the NW corner of the Parthenon), and Eumenes II, in front of the Propylaea. These were rededicated during the early Roman Empire to Augustus or Claudius (uncertain) and Agrippa , respectively. Eumenes was also responsible for constructing a stoa on the south slope, similar to that of Attalos in the agora below. During the Julio-Claudian period ,

938-666: The Enneapylon , had been built around the acropolis hill and incorporated the biggest water spring, the Clepsydra , at the northwestern foot. A temple to Athena Polias , the tutelary deity of the city, was erected between 570 and 550 BC. This Doric limestone building, from which many relics survive, is referred to as the Hekatompedon (Greek for "hundred–footed"), Ur-Parthenon (German for "original Parthenon" or "primitive Parthenon"), H–Architecture or Bluebeard temple, after

1005-456: The Greek theatre auditorium , with the late form perhaps reflecting changes in theatre design. The Pnyx was used for popular assemblies in Athens as early as 507 BC, when the reforms of Cleisthenes transferred political power to the citizenry. It was then outside the city proper, but close enough to be convenient. It looks down on the ancient Agora , which was the commercial and social centre of

1072-719: The Lapiths . Other monuments that have left almost nothing visible to the present day are the Chalkotheke , the Pandroseion , Pandion's sanctuary , Athena's altar, Zeus Polieus's sanctuary and, from Roman times, the circular Temple of Roma and Augustus . During the Hellenistic and Roman periods, many of the existing buildings in the area of the Acropolis were repaired to remedy damage from age and occasionally war. Monuments to foreign kings were erected, notably those of

1139-687: The Ottoman conquest of Greece , the Propylaea were used as the garrison headquarters of the Turkish army, the Parthenon was converted into a mosque and the Erechtheum was turned into the governor 's private harem . The buildings of the Acropolis suffered significant damage during the 1687 siege by the Venetians in the Morean War . The Parthenon, which was being used as a gunpowder magazine ,

1206-744: The Polis . Hansen finished his masters at University of Copenhagen in 1967. The following year he was engaged to work at the same university. He has written many books about the Athenian Democracy . From 1993 to 2005 he was the director of the Copenhagen Polis Centre. Hansen was visiting fellow at the University of Melbourne , University of British Columbia , Wolfson College ( University of Cambridge ), Princeton University , and Churchill College ( Cambridge ). Hansen

1273-471: The 13th century BC, an earthquake caused a fissure near the northeastern edge of the Acropolis. This fissure extended some 35 meters to a bed of soft marl in which a well was dug. An elaborate set of stairs was built and the well served as an invaluable, protected source of drinking water during times of siege for some portion of the Mycenaean period. Not much is known about the architectural appearance of

1340-483: The 17th century, were restored, with many wrongly assembled columns now properly placed. The roof and floor of the Propylaea were partly restored, with sections of the roof made of new marble and decorated with blue and gold inserts, as in the original. Restoration of the Temple of Athena Nike was completed in 2010. A total of 2,675 tons of architectural members were restored, with 686 stones reassembled from fragments of

1407-423: The Acropolis of Athens was also more properly known as Cecropia , after the legendary serpent-man Cecrops , the supposed first Athenian king. While there is evidence that the hill was inhabited as early as the 4th (millennium?)BC, it was Pericles ( c.  495 –429 BC) in the fifth century BC who coordinated the construction of the buildings whose present remains are the site's most important ones, including

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1474-525: The Acropolis until the Archaic era . During the 7th and the 6th centuries BC, the site was controlled by Kylon during the failed Kylonian revolt, and twice by Peisistratos ; each of these was attempts directed at seizing political power by coups d'état . Apart from the Hekatompedon mentioned later, Peisistratos also built an entry gate or propylaea . Nevertheless, it seems that a nine-gate wall,

1541-499: The Acropolis. Finally, in the Roman period, part of the Pnyx was used as a sanctuary of Zeus Hypsistos. Evidence for the sanctuary consist of c. 50 niches for votive plaques cut into the bedrock scarp east of the speaker's platform. Many of the votive plaques are carved with representations of human body parts (eyes, breasts, etc.), suggesting that this Zeus Hypsistos was a healing divinity. Scholars such as Mogens Herman Hansen suggest

1608-533: The Altar of Zeus are the foundations of Meton's heliotropion, the oldest known astronomical observatory, where he performed several of his measurements that led to the calculations involving the eponymous 19-year Metonic cycle which he introduced in 432 BC into the lunisolar Attic calendar , a calendar that appears in the Antikythera Mechanism . Today the site of the Pnyx is under the control of

1675-405: The Athens schist and the overlying Acropolis limestone . The Athens schist is a soft reddish rock dating from the late Cretaceous period. The original sediments were deposited in a river delta approximately 72 million years ago. The Acropolis limestone dates from the late Jurassic period, predating the underlying Athens schist by about 30 million years. The Acropolis limestone was thrust over

1742-408: The Athens schist by compressional tectonic forces, forming a nappe or overthrust sheet. Erosion of the limestone nappe led to the eventual detachment of the Acropolis, forming the present-day feature. Where the Athens schist and the limestone meet there are springs and karstic caves. Many of the hills in the Athens region were formed by the erosion of the same nappe as the Acropolis. These include

1809-645: The Ephorate of Prehistorical and Classical Antiquities of the Greek Ministry of Culture . The surrounding parkland is fenced, but can be visited free of charge at any time. 37°58′18″N 23°43′10″E  /  37.97167°N 23.71944°E  / 37.97167; 23.71944 Acropolis, Athens The Acropolis of Athens ( Ancient Greek : ἡ Ἀκρόπολις τῶν Ἀθηνῶν , romanized :  hē Akropolis tōn Athēnōn ; Modern Greek : Ακρόπολη Αθηνών , romanized :  Akrópoli Athinón )

1876-411: The Greek word meaning "tightly packed together"). In the early history of the Pnyx, three phases can be distinguished: Pnyx I: Probably constructed in the early 5th century B.C.. The people apparently sat on the hillside facing a speaker's platform on the north. The seating capacity may have been anywhere from 6,000 to 13,000 people. This phase is represented archaeologically only by a few cuttings in

1943-645: The Ottomans in 1826–1827 . A new bulwark named after Odysseas Androutsos was built by the Greeks between 1822 and 1825 to protect the recently rediscovered Klepsydra spring, which became the sole fresh water supply of the fortress. After independence, most features that dated from the Byzantine, Frankish, and Ottoman periods were cleared from the site in an attempt to restore the monument to its original form, "cleansed" of all later additions. The Parthenon mosque

2010-662: The Parthenon, the Propylaea , the Erechtheion and the Temple of Athena Nike . The Parthenon and the other buildings were seriously damaged during the 1687 siege by the Venetians during the Morean War when gunpowder being stored by the then Turkish rulers in the Parthenon was hit by a Venetian bombardment and exploded. The Acropolis is located on a flattish-topped rock that rises 150 m (490 ft) above sea level in

2077-414: The Pnyx was able to hold about 6,000 citizens, though later expansions may have accommodated 8,000 or as many as 13,000. French classical scholar Robert Flacelière states that the Pnyx had enough standing room for as many as 20,000 citizens, though this is disputed. The grassy area in front of the bema was in ancient times an area of bare rock, on which about 6,000 men could stand. This can be taken as

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2144-558: The Propylaea. To the south of the entrance is the tiny Temple of Athena Nike. At the centre of the Acropolis is the Parthenon or Temple of Athena Parthenos (Athena the Virgin). East of the entrance and north of the Parthenon is the temple known as the Erechtheum. South of the platform that forms the top of the Acropolis there are also the remains of the ancient, though often remodelled, Theatre of Dionysus . A few hundred metres away, there

2211-532: The Roman Herodes Atticus built his grand amphitheater or odeon . It was destroyed by the invading Herulians a century later but was reconstructed during the 1950s. During the 3rd century, under threat from a Herulian invasion, repairs were made to the Acropolis walls, and the Beulé Gate was constructed to restrict entrance in front of the Propylaea, thus returning the Acropolis to use as

2278-467: The Temple of Roma and Augustus, a small, round edifice about 23 meters from the Parthenon, was to be the last significant ancient construction on the summit of the rock. Around the same time, on the north slope, in a cave next to the one dedicated to Pan since the Classical period, a sanctuary was founded where the archons dedicated to Apollo on assuming office. During 161 AD, on the south slope,

2345-596: The ancient Greek speakers with the inspiration that not even the Roman Forum could rival. It is described as a result of previous reforms that included the utilization of demography and topography for the purpose of serving the interests of a rhetorical culture. As such, the Pnyx is the material embodiment of the principle of isēgoría (Greek: ἰσηγορία ), "equal speech", i.e. the equal right of every citizen to debate matters of policy. The other two principles of democracy were isonomía (Greek: ἰσονομία ), equality under

2412-745: The battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC; but they continued to run their internal affairs democratically until the coup by Demetrius of Phaleron in 322 BC. After his fall, the Athenians continued to run their internal affairs according to democratic forms for centuries. Excavations at the site were begun in 1910 by the Greek Archaeological Society and definitely confirmed the site as the Pnyx. Large-scale excavations were conducted at various times between 1930 and 1937 by Homer Thompson , in collaboration first with K. Kourouniotes and later with Robert Scranton . These excavations discovered

2479-441: The bedrock and a boundary stone (not found in situ), so that it is impossible to determine the date and size with any precision. Pnyx II: Probably late 5th century B.C. In this phase the orientation of the auditorium was apparently reversed (a reconstruction that is based more upon ancient literary sources than from the actual archaeological record). A stepped terrace wall was created on the north to support an artificial terrace, and

2546-587: The beginning of the Axis occupation of Greece in 1941, German soldiers raised the Nazi German War Flag over the Acropolis. It would be taken down by Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas in one of the first acts of resistance. In 1944 Greek Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou arrived on the Acropolis to celebrate liberation from the Nazis. The entrance to the Acropolis was a monumental gateway termed

2613-577: The city in 480 BC. The building was burned and looted, along with the Ancient Temple and practically everything else on the rock. After the Persian crisis had subsided, the Athenians incorporated many architectural parts of the unfinished temple (unfluted column drums, triglyphs, metopes, etc.) into the newly built northern curtain wall of the Acropolis, where they served as a prominent "war memorial" and can still be seen today. The devastated site

2680-589: The city of Athens , with a surface area of about 3 ha (7.4 acres). While the earliest artifacts date to the Middle Neolithic era, there have been documented habitations in Attica from the Early Neolithic period (6th millennium BC). There is little doubt that a Mycenaean megaron palace stood upon the hill during the late Bronze Age . Nothing of this structure survives except, probably,

2747-440: The city. At this site all the great political struggles of Athens of the "Golden Age" were fought out. Pericles , Aristides and Alcibiades spoke here, within sight of the Parthenon, temple of Athena . Here Demosthenes delivered his vilifications of Philip II of Macedon . The Pnyx is a small, rocky hill surrounded by parkland, with a large flat platform of eroded stone set into its side, and by steps carved on its slope. It

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2814-614: The collection and identification of all stone fragments, even small ones, from the Acropolis and its slopes, and the attempt was made to restore as much as possible using reassembled original material ( anastylosis ), with new marble from Mount Pentelicus used sparingly. All restoration was made using titanium dowels and is designed to be completely reversible, in case future experts decide to change things. A combination of cutting-edge modern technology and extensive research and reinvention of ancient techniques were used. The Parthenon colonnades, largely destroyed by Venetian bombardment during

2881-562: The connecting walls were strengthened by buttresses. The Pnyx was the official meeting place of the Athenian democratic assembly ( Ancient Greek : ἐκκλησία, ekklesía ). In the earliest days of Athenian democracy (after the reforms of Kleisthenes in 508 B.C.), the ekklesia met in the Agora. Sometime in the early 5th century, the meeting place was moved to a hill south and west of the Acropolis. This new meeting place came to be called "Pnyx" (from

2948-417: The dignitaries against the rain and sun. In theory, all citizens were equal and all of the male citizens had the right to speak. In practice, relatively few citizens actually spoke or proposed actions. A citizen who made a proposal might be subjected to a future prosecution (graphe paranomon) if the proposal was illegal or came to be seen as detrimental to Athens. There was a rule that citizens aged over 50 had

3015-514: The eastern side of the great rock-cut scarp). On a terrace above (south of) the speaker's platform, the foundations were begun for 2 long stoas (but these seem never to have been finished). It is unknown for how many years Pnyx III was used as the meeting place of the ekklesia, and certainly by the 1st century B.C. the assembly held their meetings in the Theater of Dionysos on the South Slope of

3082-424: The essentials of Greek temple design. After an interruption caused by the Peloponnesian War , the temple was finished during the time of Nicias ' peace, between 421 BC and 409 BC. Construction of the elegant temple of Erechtheion in Pentelic marble (421–406 BC) was by a complex plan which took account of the extremely uneven ground and the need to circumvent several shrines in the area. The entrance, facing east,

3149-561: The festival, a procession (believed to be depicted on the Parthenon frieze) traveled through the city via the Panathenaic Way and culminated on the Acropolis. There, a new robe of woven wool ( peplos ) was placed on either the statue of Athena Polias in the Erechtheum (during the annual Lesser Panathenaea) or the statue of Athena Parthenos in the Parthenon (during the Great Panathenaea, held every four years). Within

3216-469: The foundations of the important buildings at the Pnyx, although nothing else remains of them. These included the two large stoas, erected between 330 and 326 BC, the Altar of Zeus Agoraios, erected at the same time, but removed during the reign of Augustus (first century BC), and the Sanctuary of Zeus Hypsistos. Most of these buildings were erected after the Pnyx had lost its real significance. West to

3283-463: The front line"), built between 450 BC and 448 BC, dominated. The base was 1.50 m (4 ft 11 in) high, while the total height of the statue was 9 m (30 ft). The goddess held a lance, the gilt tip of which could be seen as a reflection by crews on ships rounding Cape Sounion , and a giant shield on the left side, decorated by Mys with images of the fight between the Centaurs and

3350-465: The hills of Lykabettos , Areopagus , and Mouseion . The marble used for the buildings of the Acropolis was sourced from the quarries of Mount Pentelicus , a mountain to the northeast of the city. The limestone that the Acropolis is built upon is unstable because of the erosion and tectonic shifts that the region is prone to. This instability may cause rock slides that cause damage to the historic site. Various measures have been implemented to protect

3417-485: The later tradition of Western civilization and Classical revival , the Acropolis, from at least the mid-18th century on, has often been invoked as a critical symbol of the Greek legacy and of the glories of Classical Greece . Most of the artifacts from the temple are housed today in the Acropolis Museum at the foot of the ancient rock. The Acropolis is a klippe consisting of two lithostratigraphic units:

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3484-470: The law, and isopoliteía (Greek: ἰσοπολιτεία ), equality of vote and equal opportunity to assume political office. The right of isēgoría was expressed by the presiding officer of the Pnyx assembly, who formally opened each debate with the open invitation " Tís agoreúein boúletai? " (Greek: " Τίς ἀγορεύειν βούλεται; ", "Who wishes to speak to the Popular Assembly?"). The Pnyx was protected by

3551-470: The natural contour of the terrain and its gate, which was towards the south, was arranged obliquely, with a parapet and tower overhanging the incomers' right-hand side, thus facilitating defense. There were two lesser approaches up the hill on its north side, consisting of steep, narrow flights of steps cut in the rock. Homer is assumed to refer to this fortification when he mentions the "strong-built house of Erechtheus " ( Odyssey 7.81). At some time before

3618-588: The old temple of Athena was set afire. Pausanias does not mention it in his 2nd century AD Description of Greece . Around 500 BC the Hekatompedon was dismantled to make place for a new grander building, the Older Parthenon (often referred to as the Pre-Parthenon or Early Parthenon). For this reason, Athenians decided to stop the construction of the Olympieion temple which was connoted with

3685-552: The originals, 905 patched with new marble, and 186 parts made entirely of new marble. A total of 530 cubic meters of new Pentelic marble were used. In 2021, the addition of new reinforced concrete paths to the site to improve accessibility caused controversy among archaeologists. Every four years, the Athenians had a festival called the Great Panathenaea that rivaled the Olympic Games in popularity. During

3752-631: The pedimental three-bodied man-serpent sculpture, whose beards were painted dark blue. Whether this temple replaced an older one or just a sacred precinct or altar is not known. Probably, the Hekatompedon was built where the Parthenon now stands. Between 529 and 520 BC yet another temple was built by the Pisistratids , the Old Temple of Athena , usually referred to as the Arkhaios Neōs (ἀρχαῖος νεώς, "ancient temple"). This temple of Athena Polias

3819-399: The people sat facing a speaker's platform on the south. Some sources stated that this retaining wall was constructed around 500 BC for the purpose of holding the soil that was brought in to form the level space for the bema. Part of the stepped terrace wall is preserved, as well as a staircase with rock-cut steps leading up to it from the direction of the Agora. The size of the auditorium (as it

3886-413: The reconstruction of the southern and northern walls of the Acropolis. Most of the major temples, including the Parthenon , were rebuilt by order of Pericles during the so-called Golden Age of Athens (460–430 BC). Phidias , an Athenian sculptor, and Ictinus and Callicrates , two famous architects, were responsible for the reconstruction. During 437 BC, Mnesicles started building the Propylaea ,

3953-419: The site, including retaining walls, drainage systems, and rock bolts. These measures work to counter the natural processes that threaten the historic site. Notes Bibliography Videos Mogens Herman Hansen Mogens Herman Hansen FBA (20 August 1940 – 22 June 2024) was a Danish classical philologist and classical demographer who was one of the leading scholars in Athenian Democracy and

4020-576: The temple of Athena Nike and the Parthenon, there was the Sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia (or the Brauroneion), the goddess represented as a bear and worshipped in the deme of Brauron. According to Pausanias, a wooden statue or xoanon of the goddess and a statue of Artemis made by Praxiteles during the 4th century BC were both in the sanctuary. Behind the Propylaea, Phidias' gigantic bronze statue of Athena Promachos ("Athena who fights in

4087-593: The tyrant Peisistratos and his sons, and, instead, used the Piraeus limestone destined for the Olympieion to build the Older Parthenon. To accommodate the new temple, the south part of the summit was cleared, made level by adding some 8,000 two-ton blocks of limestone, a foundation 11 m (36 ft) deep at some points, and the rest was filled with soil kept in place by the retaining wall. However, after

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4154-405: The victorious Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, the plan was revised and marble was used instead. The limestone phase of the building is referred to as Pre-Parthenon I and the marble phase as Pre-Parthenon II. In 485 BC, construction stalled to save resources as Xerxes became king of Persia, and war seemed imminent. The Older Parthenon was still under construction when the Persians invaded and sacked

4221-476: Was built upon the Dörpfeld foundations, between the Erechtheion and the still-standing Parthenon. The Arkhaios Neōs was destroyed as part of the Achaemenid destruction of Athens during the Second Persian invasion of Greece during 480–479 BC; however, the temple was probably reconstructed during 454 BC, since the treasury of the Delian League was transferred in its opisthodomos . The temple may have been burnt down during 406/405 BC as Xenophon mentions that

4288-452: Was cleared of debris. Statuary, cult objects, religious offerings, and unsalvageable architectural members were buried ceremoniously in several deeply dug pits on the hill, serving conveniently as a fill for the artificial plateau created around the Classical Parthenon. This " Persian debris " was the richest archaeological deposit excavated on the Acropolis by 1890. After winning at Eurymedon during 468 BC, Cimon and Themistocles ordered

4355-419: Was demolished in 1843, and the Frankish Tower in 1875. German Neoclassicist architect Leo von Klenze was responsible for the restoration of the Acropolis in the 19th century, according to German historian Wolf Seidl, as described in his book Bavarians in Greece . Some antiquities from the Acropolis were exhibited in the old Acropolis Museum , which was built in the second half of the 19th century. At

4422-418: Was hit by artillery and damaged severely. During subsequent years, the Acropolis was a site of bustling human activity with many Byzantine, Frankish, and Ottoman structures. The dominant feature during the Ottoman period was a mosque inside the Parthenon, complete with a minaret. The Acropolis was besieged thrice during the Greek War of Independence —two sieges from the Greeks in 1821–1822 and one from

4489-444: Was the meeting place of one of the world's earliest known democratic legislatures, the Athenian ekklesia (assembly), and the flat stone platform was the bema , the "stepping stone" or speakers' platform. This was the oratorical platform from which noted politicians such as Pericles and orators "fulmined over Greece." Some scholars note that the environs and position of the Pnyx as well as its openness and objects of appeal, provided

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