Our knowledge of Roman painting is almost wholly confined to the wall paintings found at Rome, Herculaneum, and Pompeii. What has survived is apparently the work of ordinary craftsmen, who, if not Greeks, were deeply affected by the Greek spirit. Most of the scenes they depict are taken from classical mythology. The coloring is very rich; and the peculiar shade of red used is known to-day by the name of "Pompeian red." The practice of mural painting passed over from the Romans to European artists, who have employed it in the frescoes of medieval and modern churches. 100. ARTISTIC ATHENS ART CENTERS OF ANTIQUITY Athens and Rome were the artistic centers of the classical world. Architects, sculptors, and painters lavished their finest efforts on the adornment of these two capitals. Here there are still to be seen some of the most beautiful and impressive monuments of antiquity. ROADS AND SUBURBS OF ATHENS Athens lies in the center of the Attic plain, about four miles from the sea. [42] The city commands a magnificent view of purple-hued mountains and the shining waters of the Aegean. Roads approached the ancient city from all parts of Attica. Among these were the highway from Piraeus, running between the Long Walls, [43] and the Sacred Way from Eleusis, where the famous mysteries were yearly celebrated. [44] The suburbs of Athens included the Outer Ceramicus, part of which was used as a national cemetery, and a pleasure ground and gymnasium on the banks of the Cephissus, called the Academy. Another resort, known as the Lyceum, bordered the little stream of the Ilissus. WALLS OF ATHENS The traveler who passed through these suburbs came at length to the great wall, nearly five miles in circumference, raised by Themistocles to surround the settlement at the foot of the Acropolis. [45] The area included within this wall made up Old Athens. About six centuries after Themistocles the Roman emperor Hadrian, by building additional fortifications on the east, brought an extensive quarter, called New Athens, inside the city limits. HILLS OF ATHENS The region within the walls was broken up by a number of rocky eminences which have a prominent place in the topography of Athens. Near the center the Acropolis rises more than two hundred feet above the plain, its summit crowned with monuments of the Periclean Age. Not far away is the hill called the Areopagus. Here the Council of the Areopagus, a court of justice in trials for murder, held its deliberations in the open air. Beyond this height is the hill of the Pnyx. This was the meeting place of the Athenian Assembly until the fourth century B.C., when the sessions were transferred to the theater of Dionysus. [Illustration: Map, ATHENS] THE AGORA