Английская Википедия:Beulé Gate

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The Beulé Gate (Шаблон:IPA) 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 (Шаблон:Lang) 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 built around the Acropolis in the years following the city's sack by the Germanic Heruli people in 267 or early 268 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 explosives – 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 a monumental staircase, which led to the Proplyaia approximately Шаблон:Convert to the east.Шаблон:Sfnm The staircase was constructed in the later 1st century CE, possibly at the instigation of the emperor Claudius (Шаблон:Reigned).Шаблон:Sfnm The gate includes two Шаблон:Lang-like towers, which project around Шаблон:Convert from the structure.Шаблон:Sfn These towers are joined by walls to the terraces above, including that of the Temple of Athena Nike.Шаблон:Sfn The doorway is set into a marble wall and aligned with the main route through the Propylaia.Шаблон:Sfn

The gate is almost Шаблон:Convert wide, with a central part around Шаблон:Convert in both height and width.Шаблон:Sfn The area above the central doorway is decorated in the Doric order. It consists of an architrave in Pentelic marble, topped with marble metopes and triglyphs made from a variety of limestone known as poros stone. Above the metopes and triglyphs is a Шаблон:Transl with mutules, itself topped with an attic.Шаблон:Sfnm The doorway itself is Шаблон:Convert high, Шаблон:Convert wide at its base, and Шаблон:Convert wide at the top.Шаблон:Sfn

Entablature inscription

A wall made from large marble blocks: ancient Greek letters are just about visible on some of them.
Detail of the wall over the doorway, constructed from blocks reused from the Choragic Monument of Nikias, with part of the dedicatory inscription (centre, below the vertical triglyphs)

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

Шаблон:Text and translation

Nikias's monument was built in the form of a Greek temple in the Doric order, consisting of a square Шаблон:Transl with a prostyle, hexastyle Шаблон:Transl (that is, a front porch with six columns).Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

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 Odeon of Herodes Atticus 20, and the Stoa of Eumenes 21. The original location of the Choragic Monument of Nikias is numbered 26.

The gate's discoverer, Charles Ernest Beulé, erroneously believed the gate to have been the original entrance to the Acropolis.Шаблон:Sfn Later research, beginning with that Paul Graindor in 1914, established it as belonging to the late Roman period (Шаблон:Circa), but scholarly opinion remains divided as to precisely when in that period it was built.Шаблон:Refn

The Beulé Gate is constructed almost entirely from marble Шаблон:Lang (reused material) originating in the Choragic Monument of Nikias.Шаблон:Sfn Nikias's monument was demolished at an uncertain date: in the 1880s, 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.Шаблон:Sfn In 1910, William Bell Dinsmoor disproved Dörpfeld's hypothesis by demonstrating that the Nikias monument had originally stood at the eastern end of the Stoa of Eumenes.Шаблон:Refn Dinsmoor alternatively suggested that the demolition may have dated to the late 3rd or early 4th centuries CE,Шаблон:Sfn a view since established as the scholarly consensus.Шаблон:Refn More precise proposed dates for the gate include the reign of the Roman emperor Valerian (Шаблон:Ruled CE)Шаблон:Sfn and the period around the sacking of Athens by the Heruli in 267 or early 268 CE – either slightly before the sack or around ten years afterwards.Шаблон:Refn

The Beulé Gate shows architectural similarities, such as the use of alternating courses of differently coloured marble, with the Post-Herulian Wall,Шаблон:Sfn built around the Acropolis about two decades after the sack of 267 or 268.Шаблон:Sfnm Although the gate's date is not absolutely certain, it is generally agreed 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.Шаблон:Sfn Most modern scholars consider that the gate was built in the aftermath of the sack.Шаблон:Sfnm Judith Binder has suggested that the gate may have been constructed by Dexippus,Шаблон:Sfn the Athenian general who successfully defended the Acropolis against the Heruli during their invasion.Шаблон:Sfn

A stone 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".Шаблон:Refn The inscription gives Marcellinus's rank as Шаблон:Transl (Шаблон:Lang-grc), a title equivalent to the Latin Шаблон:Lang and customarily used, after the early second century CE, to refer to men of senatorial rank.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn It also identifies him as a former Шаблон:Transl (Шаблон:Lang), a title given in Roman Athens to the officials responsible for funding and organising religious festivals, including the Panathenaia, the Dionysia and games in honour of the imperial family.Шаблон:Refn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

History

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.Шаблон:Sfn The Beulé Gate is believed to have been intended to safeguard the approach leading to the Шаблон:Transl, a spring on the Acropolis which provided it with a safe supply of water in case of siege.Шаблон:Sfnm

Drawing showing the Beulé Gate in the foreground, with a staircase rising steeply behind to a temple-like structure (the Propylaia)
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 Шаблон:Transl were numbered while still Шаблон:Lang, allowing them to be correctly reassembled within the gate.Шаблон:Sfnm 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.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

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".Шаблон:Sfn During the third or fourth century CE, a wooden roof was constructed along the gate's inner face; under the emperor Justinian (Шаблон:Reigned) an additional lintel was fitted to the gate's doorway, reducing its height.Шаблон:Sfn The gate remained the main entrance to the Acropolis during the Middle Byzantine period (Шаблон:Circa): during this time, an additional storey with a wooden roof was added to the whole structure, and a barrel vault, running from north to south, was constructed against the inner (eastern) side of the towers and the gate wall.Шаблон:Sfnm Tasos Tanoulas has suggested that this work may have been carried out by Leo, the Metropolitan of Athens between 1060 and 1069.Шаблон:Sfn

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.Шаблон:Sfnm Between the 13th and 15th centuries, the city's Frankish rulers gradually refortified the Acropolis;Шаблон:Sfn the Beulé Gate was closed off during the reign of Othon's descendants, the de la Roche family, which lasted until 1308; a vaulted structure was also built in the gate's north tower to brace it during the same period.Шаблон:Refn The medieval period also saw the closing off of the Propylaia,Шаблон:Sfn which was further reinforced with the Frankish Tower at an uncertain date.Шаблон:Sfn

The gates' previous role as an entrance to the Acropolis was taken over by the gate situated at the western foot of the large classical bastion on which the Temple of Athena Nike was built.Шаблон:Sfn The medieval notary Niccolò da Martoni, who visited Athens in February 1395, wrote an account suggesting that the Beulé Gate was still visible, though no longer used.Шаблон:Refn At some point in the Ottoman period (1458–1827), the gate's towers were heightened and a bastion was constructed on top of it:Шаблон:RefnШаблон:Efn this bastion was visible in drawings made by the British antiquary William Gell in 1801–1806.Шаблон:Sfn When Beulé excavated the bastion, he found evidence that the gate had been damaged by bombs prior to the bastion's construction.Шаблон:Sfn By the 19th century, knowledge of the gate's existence was lost.Шаблон:Sfn

Excavation

Architectural plan of the Beulé Gate, the staircase running through it, and the Propylaia to its north.
Beulé's plan of the entrance to the Acropolis of Athens. The Beulé Gate is at the bottom (west) of the image.Шаблон:Sfn

The gate is named for Charles Ernest Beulé, a member of the French School at Athens, who discovered the gate in 1852.Шаблон:Sfn 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 Шаблон:Lang British archaeology.Шаблон:Sfn Beulé had joined the French School in 1849,Шаблон:Sfn and discovered the gate while excavating the approach to the Proplyaia under the direction of Kyriakos Pittakis, the Greek Ephor General of Antiquities.Шаблон:Sfn The historian Jean-Michel Leniaud has called the excavation "the first of the great archaeological transformations" carried out on the Acropolis;Шаблон:Sfn Tanoulas has described it as the most important archaeological project of the mid-nineteenth century at the site.Шаблон:Sfn

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.Шаблон:Sfn In 1846, the architect and archaeologist Шаблон:Ill 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.Шаблон:Sfn Titeux died in 1846 with his work on the staircase unfinished:Шаблон:Sfn in 1850, Pittakis completed the work of clearing itШаблон:Sfn and partially reconstructing the steps.Шаблон:Sfn

Pittakis enlisted Beulé to assist with the removal of medieval and modern structures from the remaining parts of the Propylaea in 1852.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn On Шаблон:OldStyleDateNY,Шаблон:Efn the excavators discovered additional steps leading towards the gate, and by Шаблон:OldStyleDateNY it had become clear that they had found the edge of a fortified wall around the Acropolis, and within it a gateway.Шаблон:Sfn The site was visited by King Otto and Queen Amalia of Greece, and the discovery made Beulé's scholarly reputation.Шаблон:Sfn

Beulé left Athens for France at the beginning of June, returning in December to direct renewed excavations, now focused on the gate.Шаблон:Sfn On Шаблон:OldStyleDateDY, 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".Шаблон:Sfn

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 Шаблон:Lang,Шаблон:Sfn a fleet of the French Navy tasked with patrolling the Aegean Sea,Шаблон:Sfn and used Шаблон:Convert of gunpowder 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.Шаблон:Refn Pittakis, who had been watching the operation, was almost struck by a fragment of the debris, which pierced his hat:Шаблон:Sfn reports circulated in the aftermath that he had been killed.Шаблон:Sfn

Colour photograph of a marble stone, inscribed in Ancient Greek
The commemorative inscription erected by Beulé in 1853 Шаблон:Sfn

By Шаблон:OldStyleDate, the two towers had been fully revealed, followed by the gateway itself on Шаблон:OldStyleDateNY.Шаблон:Sfn Beulé fixed a commemorative stone to the gate, inscribed in Ancient Greek:

Шаблон:Text and translation

Beulé also reported having inscribed a French translation of the same inscription below the Greek text.Шаблон:Sfn The discovery of the gate prompted scholarly celebration in France, and was reported with enthusiasm in the French press. The diplomat and philhellene Шаблон:Ill has written that Beulé's work turned him into "the standard-bearer for national honour in the field of archaeology".Шаблон:Sfn In recognition of Beulé's discovery, the Шаблон:Lang made the Acropolis of Athens the topic for its Grand Prize for PoetryШаблон:Efn in 1853, which was won by Louise Colet.Шаблон:Sfn The British historian Thomas Henry Dyer praised Beulé's discovery, but correctly questioned his assertion that the gate had been built under Mnesikles, and criticised Beulé's commemorative inscription, calling it "somewhat vainglorious".Шаблон:Sfn

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

Gallery

Footnotes

Explanatory notes

Шаблон:Commons category Шаблон:Notelist

References

Шаблон:Reflist

Bibliography

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