The Pelasgic wall or Pelasgian fortress or ''Enneapylon'' (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Εννεαπύλον; nine-gated) was a monument supposed to have been built by the

Pelasgians The name Pelasgians (, ) was used by Classical Greek writers to refer either to the predecessors of the Greeks, or to all the inhabitants of Greece before the emergence of the Greeks. In general, "Pelasgian" has come to mean more broadly all ...

, after levelling the summit of the rock on the

Acropolis of Athens The Acropolis of Athens (; ) is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens, Greece, and contains the remains of several Ancient Greek architecture, ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, ...

Thucydides Thucydides ( ; ; BC) was an Classical Athens, Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts Peloponnesian War, the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been d ...

and

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

call it "''Pelargikon''", "Stork wall or place". ''"Pelargikon"'' refers to the line of walls at the western foot of the Acropolis. During the time of Thucydides, the wall was said to have stood several meters high with a large, visible fragment at broad, located on to the south of the present

Propylaia In ancient Greek architecture, a propylaion, propylaeon or, in its Latinized form, ''propylaeum''—often used in the plural forms propylaia or propylaea (; Greek: προπύλαια)—is a monumental gateway. It serves as a partition, separat ...

and close to the earlier gateway. Today, the beveling can be seen but the foundation of the wall lies below the level of the present hill. The

Parian Chronicle The Parian Chronicle or Parian Marble (, Mar. Par.) is a Greek chronology, covering the years from 1582 BC to 299 BC, inscribed on a stele. Found on the island of Paros in two sections, and sold in Smyrna in the early 17th century to an ...

mentions that the Athenians expelled the

Peisistratids Pisistratus (also spelled Peisistratus or Peisistratos; ; – 527 BC) was a politician in ancient Athens, ruling as tyrant in the late 560s, the early 550s and from 546 BC until his death. His unification of Attica, the triangular p ...

from the "''Pelasgikon teichos''".

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

relates that before the expulsion of the Pelasgians from Attica, the land under

Hymettus Hymettus (), also Hymettos (; ; ), is a mountain range in the Athens area of Attica, East Central Greece. It is also colloquially known as ''Trellós'' (crazy) or ''Trellóvouno'' (crazy mountain); the latter originates from the French "très ...

had been given to them as a dwelling-place in reward for the wall that had once been built around the Acropolis. Said to have been built by the Pelasgians, there are some remains of this wall still evident in modern Athens. The wall was believed to be thick according to archaeological remains of the site. File:Das Pelargikon - Boetticher Adolf - 1888.jpg, upright=1.3, Sketch of the course of the Pelasgic wall. File:Pelasgic wall on the summit of the Acropolis, south of the Modern Museum.jpg, upright=1.3, Pelasgic wall on the summit of the Acropolis, south of the Modern Museum File:Southwest wing of the Propylaea and Pelasgic wall.jpg, left, Southwest wing of the

Propylaea In ancient Greek architecture, a propylaion, propylaeon or, in its Latinized form, ''propylaeum''—often used in the plural forms propylaia or propylaea (; Greek: προπύλαια)—is a monumental gateway. It serves as a partition, separat ...

and Pelasgic wall.

References

Bibliography

*Jane Ellen Harrison, ''Primitive Athens as Described by Thucydides'', Cambridge, *Anna Maria Theocharaki, ''The Ancient Circuit Walls of Athens'', 2019. *Spyros Iakōvidēs, ''The Mycenaean Acropolis of Athens'', 2006. *Eirini M. Dimitriadou, ''Early Athens: Settlements and Cemeteries in the Submycenaean, Geometric and Archaic Periods'', Monumenta Archaeologica 42, 2019. Acropolis of Athens Helladic civilization Ancient Greek fortifications in Greece City walls of Athens Pelasgians {{Athens-struct-stub