The Pre-Periclean Propylon of the Acropolis at Athens

THE problem to be considered in the following pages is the structure of the early gateway to the Acropolis at Athens. The ruins of this building are mostly covered or replaced by the splendid Propylaea of Mnesicles; yet enough survives, I believe, to permit a reconstruction of the principal features of the building. The problems as to the early approach to the Acropolis, together with the Pelargicon. and other walls, will be touched upon only as is necessary for an understanding of the Propylon itself. It is, unfortunately, difficult to obtain accurate accounts of the earlier excavations conducted on the Acropolis. In the case of the Propylon the only contemporary evidence as to the first excavation is that published by Ross in the Tiibinger Kunstblatt and reprinted in his Arch aologische Aufsa'tze in 1855. From his account we learn that the principal portion of the Propylon was laid bare in 1840, in course of excavations made about the Propylaea. At that time, in fact, the three extant portions were uncovered, with the exception of the small part cleared by the writer of this paper in the summer of 1901. For the study of the early building we are dependent almost entirely upon the drawings made by Bohn, and published in