rising out of the plain in the neighbourhood of Athens, including Lycabettus, Areopagus, Pnyx, and Museum Hill. Though not nearly so high as Lycabettus, the Acropolis was better fitted for defence, as it was almost inaccessible from all sides except the west, and had a flat summit of considerable extent. In itself it is not equal to the Castle Rock of “modern Athens,” being only 150 feet high, 1150 long, and about 500 in breadth. But it is a far more striking object from many points of view, partly owing to its position on a rising ground, partly because it is crowned with the noble ruins of the Parthenon. Many traces still remain of its original fortifications, which were of a Cyclopean character, and were attributed to the Pelasgian race. This name, indeed, survives in the Pelasgicon (otherwise called Pelargicon), an elaborate outwork consisting of a series of terraced battlements with nine gates (Enneapylon), of which some remains can still be made out. On the eastern side there can also be seen the lower courses of a wall which had been built to fill up a depression in the hill. Although Attica is not much more than half the size of Cornwall, there was a time when its inhabitants were divided into many different communities, practically independent of each other. The city of Athens was then confined to the Acropolis and a small extent of ground in its immediate neighbourhood on the south-east. According to tradition it was Theseus who welded together the various demes or townships into one organised community under his single rule; and in commemoration of this rare achievement in Greek history the festival of Synœcia long continued to be celebrated. Theseus is mentioned both in the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_, and his two sons fought in the Trojan war, yet it was not he but his successor Menestheus who commanded the Athenian forces in the war, owing to certain impieties committed by him which entailed upon him the loss of his crown. No hero was credited with more wonderful performances than Theseus both by land and sea, and even in the underground world, though his efforts there were not so successful. His most memorable exploit in the eyes of the Athenians was the destruction of the Minotaur, a monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull, which was kept at Knossus, the capital of the Cretan empire of Minos, and to which Athens had to devote a sacrifice of seven youths and seven maidens every nine years. When the time came round Theseus volunteered to accompany the victims, in order to deliver them; and with the help of Ariadne, the king’s daughter, who furnished him with a clue to the labyrinth in which the monster was confined and a sword, he succeeded in his perilous mission, and brought back his young companions safe and sound. He had arranged with his father Ægeus that in that event he would hoist a white sail instead of the usual black one; but unfortunately he omitted to give the sign, and the aged king, who was