Beulé Gate

Beulé Gate
Gate as seen from the south-west
Photograph of the Beulé Gate from the south-west.
Beulé Gate is located in Athens
Beulé Gate
Location of the Beulé Gate in central Athens
LocationAcropolis of Athens, Greece
Coordinates37°58′18″N 23°43′29″E / 37.9716°N 23.7247°E / 37.9716; 23.7247
History
MaterialMarble
Founded3rd–4th century CE
PeriodsRoman
CulturesClassical Greece
Site notes
Excavation dates1852–53
ArchaeologistsCharles Ernest Beulé
Public accessYes
Designated1987
Part ofAcropolis, Athens
Reference no.404

The Beulé Gate is a fortified gate, constructed in the Roman period, leading to the Propylaia of the Acropolis of Athens. It was constructed almost entirely from repurposed materials (spolia) taken from the Choragic Monument of Nikias, a monument built in the fourth century BCE and demolished between the second and fourth centuries CE. The dedicatory inscription from Nikias's monument is still visible in the entablature of the Beulé Gate.

The gate was integrated into the Post-Herulian Wall, a late Roman fortification which reinforced the Acropolis as a military stronghold in the years following the city's sack by the Germanic Heruli people in 267 CE. Its construction marked the beginning of a new phase in the Acropolis's use, in which it came to be seen more as a potential defensive position than in the religious terms that had marked its use in the Classical period. During the medieval period, the gate was further fortified and closed off, before being built over with a bastion in Ottoman times.

The monument was discovered by the French archaeologist Charles Ernest Beulé in 1852, and excavated between 1852 and 1853. Its discovery was greeted enthusiastically in France among the scholarly community and the press, though archaeologists and Greek commentators criticised the aggressive means – particularly the use of dynamite – by which Beulé had carried out the excavation. In modern times, the gate has served primarily as an exit for tourists from the Acropolis.

Description

The Beulé Gate is situated at the bottom of the monumental staircase which, by the Roman period (that is, from c. 167 BCE),[1] led to the Proplyaia approximately 37 m (121 ft) to the east. It consists of two pylon-like towers, which project around 5 m (16 ft) from the structure.[2] These towers are in turn joined by walls to the terraces above, including that of the Temple of Athena Nike.[3] The gateway itself is set into a marble wall and aligned with the main route through the Propylaia.[4]

The gate is almost 23 m (75 ft) in width, with a central part around 7 m (23 ft) in both height and width. The gateway itself is 3.87 m (12.7 ft) high and 1.89 m (6.2 ft) in width at its base.[2] The area above the central doorway is decorated in the Doric order, and consists of an architrave in Pentelic marble, topped with marble triglyphs and metopes made from a variety of limestone known as tufa. Above the metopes and triglyphs is a cornice with mutules, itself topped with an attic.[2]

Entablature inscription

Detail of the central part of the monument, showing the dedicatory inscription from the Choragic Monument of Nikias

The inscription visible on the entablature[5] was originally the dedicatory inscription of the Choragic Monument of Nikias, a structure built shortly after 320 BCE to commemorate the Athenian choregos Nikias and his victory in the choragic competitions of that year.[6] It reads as follows:

Nikias, son of Nicomedes, of the deme of Xypete, set this up having won as choregos in the boys' chorus for Kekropis. Pantaleon of Sicyon played the aulos. The song performed was the Elpenor of Timotheos. Neaechmos was archon.[7]

Nikias's monument was built in the form of a Greek temple in the Doric order, consisting of a square naos with a prostyle hexastyle pronaos (that is, a front porch with six columns).[8] The inscription would originally have been placed across the architrave of Nikias's monument, and represents one of the latest such inscriptions from Hellenistic Athens. Under Demetrios of Phaleron, who governed Athens between 317 and 307 BCE, sumptuary laws to control aristocrats' ostentatious spending meant that no further choragic monuments were constructed.[9]

Date

Plan of the Acropolis, showing the Beulé Gate at the far southwest edge.
Plan of the Acropolis of Athens: the Beulé Gate is numbered 19

The gate's discoverer, Charles Ernest Beulé, erroneously believed the gate to have been the original entrance to the Acropolis.[10] Later research, beginning with that of the archaeologist Paul Graindor in 1914, established it as belonging to the late Roman period (c. 284 – c. 476 CE), but scholarly opinion remains divided as to the precise date of its construction.[11]

The Beulé Gate is constructed almost entirely from marble spolia originating in the Choragic Monument of Nikias.[12] Nikias's monument was demolished at an uncertain date: the archaeologist Wilhelm Dörpfeld suggested 161 CE, on the grounds of his belief that a foundation discovered underneath the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, constructed in that year, had originally belonged to the monument.[13] The architectural historian William Bell Dinsmoor alternatively suggested that the demolition may have dated to the late 3rd or early 4th centuries CE.[14]

A stone later reused in the Ottoman fortifications of the Acropolis preserves an inscription commemorating Flavius Septimius Marcellinus for having constructed "the gateway to the Acropolis from his own resources".[15] The inscription gives Marcellinus's rank as lamprotatos (Ancient Greek: λαμπρότατος), a title equivalent to the Latin clarissimus and customarily used, after the early second century CE, to refer to men of senatorial rank.[16][a] It also identifies him as a former agonothetes (ἀγωνοθέτης), an official who had presided over one of the Panhellenic games (the sacred athletic contests open to all Greek states)[b] or over the Athenian religious and dramatic festival called the Great Dionysia.[19][c] The inscription has been dated to the mid-4th century CE, after 325; it is generally, though not universally, assumed to be associated with the construction of the Beulé Gate.[21] Other proposed dates for the gate include the reign of the Roman emperor Valerian (r. 253–260 CE)[22] and the period around the sacking of Athens by the Heruli in 267 or 268 CE – either slightly before the sack or around ten years afterwards.[23]

The Beulé Gate shows architectural similarities, such as the use of alternating courses of differently coloured marble, with the Post-Herulian Wall,[24] built around the Acropolis about two decades after the sack of 267 or 268.[25] The archaeologist Sarah Rous has therefore suggested that the demolition of the Choragic Monument of Nikias, the construction of the Post-Herulian Wall and the building of the Beulé Gate were approximately contemporary.[3] The archaeologist Judith Binder has suggested that the gate may have been constructed by Dexippus,[3] the Athenian general who successfully defended the Acropolis against the Heruli during their invasion.[26]

Construction

The archaeologist and philologist Walter Miller suggested in 1893 that the gate may have been built to replace an older, now-lost gateway, which he hypothesised would have been less strongly fortified.[27] According to the archaeologist Tasos Tanoulas, part of the strategic rationale behind the gate's construction was to safeguard the approach leading to the klepsydra, a spring on the Acropolis which provided it with a safe supply of water in case of siege.[3]

Reconstruction of the Acropolis in the 3rd century CE, showing the Beulé Gate (foreground, centre) with the Propylaia behind

During the demolition of the Choragic Monument of Nikias, the structure's geisa were numbered while still in situ, allowing them to be correctly reassembled within the gate.[28] The Doric frieze of the Choragic Monument, built from limestone and marble, was reconstructed along the top of the Beulé Gate, though the architrave of the Choragic Monument, which originally formed a single horizontal beam, was divided into two parts, one above and one below the gate's frieze.[24] The archaeologist Jeffrey M. Hurwit has described the re-use of the Choragic Monument as a "twice-told Classicism", since the original monument was itself modelled on the Propylaia, and so its re-use created architectural harmony between the Beulé Gate and the Proplyaia to which it led.[29]

Hurwit has called the construction of the gate a "turning point" in the Acropolis's history, suggesting that it represented a renewed emphasis on the Acropolis's role as a strategic fortification rather than as a religious sanctuary — making the site now "a fortress with temples".[30] Later in the Roman period, an arch was constructed out from the eastern tower of the gate.[31]

In 1204, after the Fourth Crusade, the Byzantine Empire was partitioned between Venice and the leaders of the crusade. Athens became the centre of the Duchy of Athens, a lordship initially held by the Burgundian aristocrat Othon de la Roche.[32] Between the 13th and 15th centuries, the city's Frankish rulers gradually refortified the Acropolis, closing off both the Beulé Gate and the Propylaia,[33] which was further reinforced with the Frankish Tower at an uncertain date.[34] The gates' previous role as an entrance to the Acropolis was taken over by the gate situated beneath the Temple of Athena Nike.[35] At some point in the Ottoman period (1458–1827), a bastion was constructed on top of the Beulé Gate.[36] By the 19th century, knowledge of the gate's existence was lost.[37]

Excavation

The gate is named for Charles Ernest Beulé, a member of the French School at Athens, who discovered the gate in 1852.[37] The first of Athens's foreign schools of archaeology, the French School had been founded in 1846 with the aim of carrying out excavations and classical scholarship, as well as of enhancing French prestige, particularly vis-à-vis British archaeology.[38] Beulé had joined the French School in 1849,[39] and discovered the gate while excavating the approach to the Proplyaia under the direction of Kyriakos Pittakis, the Greek Ephor General of Antiquities.[37] The historian Jean-Michel Leniaud has called the excavation "the first of the great archaeological transformations" carried out on the Acropolis.[40]

The existence of a lower route to the Propylaia had become evident during the operations to clear and repair the monuments of the Acropolis following the end of the Greek War of Independence in 1829.[41] In 1846, the architect and archaeologist Auguste Titeux [fr] began to reveal the staircase leading up to the Propylaia, but archaeologists did not generally consider that there had been a second gateway below it.[41] Titeux died in 1846 with his work on the staircase unfinished:[41] in 1850, Pittakis completed the work of clearing it[42] and partially reconstructing the steps.[43]

Photograph of Greek ruins.
A side view of the gate, with the Propylaia behind

Pittakis enlisted Beulé to assist with the removal of medieval and modern structures from the remaining parts of the Propylaea in 1852.[37] Beulé, against the prevailing scholarly opinion of his time, believed that Mnesikles, the architect of the Propylaia, had originally constructed a second gateway, and secured Pittakis's blessing as well as support from Alexandre de Forth-Rouen, the French ambassador to Greece, to investigate his hypothesis.[41] On 16 May [O.S. 4 May],[d] the excavators discovered additional steps leading towards the gate, and by 29 May [O.S. 17 May] it had become clear that they had found the edge of a fortified wall around the Acropolis, and within it a gateway.[45] The site was visited by King Otto and Queen Amalia of Greece, and the discovery made Beulé's scholarly reputation.[45]

Beulé left Athens for France at the beginning of June, returning in December to direct renewed excavations, now focused on the gate.[45] On 5 January 1853 [O.S. 24 December 1852], work was temporarily halted when the Greek Minister for War ordered the excavators to leave, concerned that the excavation would destroy the Acropolis's defensive value in case of a future invasion; Beulé, with the support of the French embassy, was able to persuade the Greek authorities that the Acropolis had little military value anyway, and "would not hold out for twenty-four hours against an assault".[46]

When work was able to resume in 1853, the excavators encountered a particularly stubborn block of mortar through which their tools could not penetrate. Beulé secured a batch of explosives from sailors of the Station du Levant,[46] a fleet of the French Navy tasked with patrolling the Aegean Sea,[47] and used them to blast through the block. Contemporary archaeologists criticised his actions, as did the Greek newspapers, one of which had previously accused Beulé of wanting to blow up everything on the Acropolis.[46] Pittakis, who had been watching the operation, was almost struck by a fragment of the debris which pierced his hat:[48] reports circulated in the aftermath that he had been killed.[46]

Colour photograph of a marble stone, inscribed in Ancient Greek
The commemorative inscription erected by Beulé in 1853 [49]

By 12 April [O.S. 31 March] 1853, the two towers had been fully revealed, followed by the gateway itself on 13 April [O.S. 1 April].[46] Beulé fixed a commemorative stone to the gate, inscribed in Ancient Greek and reading:

Η ΓΑΛΛΙΑ ΤΗΝ ΠΥΛΗN ΤΗΣ ΑΚΡΟΠΟΛΕΩΣ, ΤΑ ΤΕΙΧΗ ΤΟΥ ΠΥΡΓΟΥ, ΚΑΙ ΤΗΝ ΑΝΑΒΑΣΙΝ ΕΧΩΣΜΕΝΑ ΕΞΕΚΑΛΥΨΕΝ

France unearthed the hitherto-buried gate of the Acropolis, the walls of the tower, and the ascending road.[49]

The discovery of the gate prompted scholarly celebration in France, and was reported with enthusiasm in the French press. The writer and philhellene Jean Baelan has written that Beulé's work turned him into "the standard-bearer for national honour in the field of archaeology".[50] In recognition of Beulé's discovery, the Académie Française made the Acropolis of Athens the topic for its Grand Prize for Poetry[e] in 1853, which was won by Louise Colet.[51]

After its excavation, the Beulé Gate resumed its original function as a monumental gateway for the Acropolis.[40] In the 1960s, the main entrance was moved to the south-east side, leaving the Beulé Gate as primarily an exit.[4]

Gallery

  • Black-and-white photograph of the gate, from a distance, showing the Temple of Athene Nike above
    Photographed in 1893
  • Colour photograph of the gate, showing its construction from large marble blocks.
    View of the gate from the north-west
  • Back of the gate, looking east
    Back of the gate, looking east
  • Black and white photograph showing men in military uniform, posing in the gateway.
    French troops during the 1917 occupation of Athens
  • A stone of the gate, repurposed from an older monument: an inscription, now upside-down, is visible
    A stone of the gate, repurposed from an older monument: an inscription, now upside-down, is visible

Footnotes

Explanatory notes

  1. ^ An older, obsolete reading gave the partial rank flam- (Ancient Greek: φλαμ-) for flamen (φλαμήν) or flaminalios (φλαμινάλιος), both priestly titles.[17]
  2. ^ Despite the literal meaning of Panhellenic as being open to all Greeks, these contests were open only to those afforded full civic and political rights, which excluded in particular women and slaves.[18]
  3. ^ From c. 573 BCE, the Panhellenic Games consisted of the Olympic Games at Olympia, the Pythian Games at Delphi, the Isthmian Games at the Isthmus of Corinth and the Nemean Games at Nemea. While the Panathenaic Games in Athens were also considered Panhellenic, their organisers were generally known as athlothetai (ἀθλοθέται).[20] For the use of the agonothetes title for the Great Dionysia, see Wilson 1999, p. 324.
  4. ^ Greece adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1923; 28 February [O.S. 15 February] was followed by 1 March.[44] In this article, this date and all subsequent dates are given in the 'New Style' Gregorian calendar, while dates before it are given in the 'Old Style' Julian calendar.
  5. ^ French: grand prix de poésie

References

  1. ^ Wilson 2013, p. 594.
  2. ^ a b c Guides Joanne 1888, p. 41.
  3. ^ a b c d Rous 2019, p. 60.
  4. ^ a b Lyons 2005, p. 131.
  5. ^ The inscription is found at IG II 2 3055.
  6. ^ Dinsmoor 1910, p. 479.
  7. ^ Camp 2001, p. 162.
  8. ^ Anderson, Spiers & Dinsmoor 1927, p. 149.
  9. ^ Camp 2001, p. 161.
  10. ^ Hoppin 1897, p. 95.
  11. ^ Sironen 1994, pp. 28–29. For the dates of the late Roman period, see Cameron 1993, pp. 1–2.
  12. ^ Dinsmoor 1973, p. 286.
  13. ^ Dinsmoor 1910, p. 481.
  14. ^ Dinsmoor 1910, p. 482.
  15. ^ Sironen 1994, p. 28. The text of the inscription is given at CIG II/III2, no. 5206.
  16. ^ Millar 2002, p. 362.
  17. ^ Sironen 1994, p. 28; Bodnar 1960, p. 177.
  18. ^ Murray 2015, p. 434.
  19. ^ Sironen 1994, p. 28.
  20. ^ Instone & Spawforth 1999, p. 41. For the different title used in Athens, see Chisholm 1911, p. 380.
  21. ^ Sironen 1994, pp. 28–29.
  22. ^ Guides Joanne 1888, p. 42.
  23. ^ Rous 2019, pp. 57–61.
  24. ^ a b Rous 2019, p. 58.
  25. ^ Lalonde 2021, p. 48.
  26. ^ Mallan & Davenport 2015, p. 210.
  27. ^ Miller 1893, p. 539.
  28. ^ Rous 2019, pp. 57–58.
  29. ^ Hurwit 1999, p. 284.
  30. ^ Hurwit 1999, pp. 284–285.
  31. ^ Tanoulas 1997, p. 240.
  32. ^ Hendrickx 2015, pp. 303, 317; Setton 1991, p. 418.
  33. ^ Mark 1993, p. 7.
  34. ^ Lock 1986, p. 133.
  35. ^ Makri, Tsakos & Vavylopoulou-Charitonidou 1989, p. 330.
  36. ^ Guides Joanne 1888, p. 41. For the dates of the Ottoman period, see Kolovos 2021, p. 254.
  37. ^ a b c d St. Clair 2022, pp. 490–491.
  38. ^ Whitling 2019, pp. 42–44.
  39. ^ Baelen 1958, p. 92.
  40. ^ a b Leniaud 2002, p. 58.
  41. ^ a b c d Baelen 1958, p. 95.
  42. ^ Dickins 2014, p. 1.
  43. ^ Mallouchou-Tufano 2007, p. 44.
  44. ^ Kiminas 2009, p. 23.
  45. ^ a b c Baelen 1958, p. 97.
  46. ^ a b c d e Baelen 1958, p. 98.
  47. ^ Delis 2016, p. 41.
  48. ^ St. Clair 2022, p. 491.
  49. ^ a b Baelen 1958, pp. 98–99.
  50. ^ Baelen 1958, p. 99.
  51. ^ Baelen 1958, p. 100.

Bibliography

Further reading

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