As already mentioned, the earliest temple of Athena was connected with the palace of Erechtheus. A little south of the present Erechtheum the foundations of a temple have been discovered, made of Acropolis rock, and corresponding in their length to the name _Hecatompedon_ (“Hundred-Foot”), which was afterwards applied to a portion of the Parthenon. Traces have also been found of a peristyle, which Peisistratus is supposed to have erected, consisting of six columns at each end and ten at each side, made of Kara stone taken from the foot of Hymettus. Various fragments have been unearthed, and in the north-west wall of the Acropolis pieces of the architrave and cornice, with metopes of white Parian marble, are still to be seen, having been built into it by Cimon as a reminder of the destruction wrought by the Persians. Whether the ancient temple of Athena _Polias_ (guardian of the _City_), which is mentioned in inscriptions and elsewhere, is to be identified [Illustration: THE WESTERN PORTICO OF THE PARTHENON FROM THE SOUTH The timber scaffolding, here shown, has been erected for the purpose of examining the condition of the architrave supporting the western frieze. The columns to the right are those of the inner row. The marvellous way in which the marble of the Parthenon takes colour is in no way exaggerated in this drawing. The second column of the northern peristyle (the column across which one of the beams of the scaffolding passes transversely) should be specially noticed. The time of day is towards noon.] with this recently discovered building, or with the Erechtheum, which (in the form in which it was restored after the Persian invasion) still forms one of the chief ornaments of the Acropolis, is a question on which there is a considerable difference of opinion; but the weight of probability seems to be in favour of the latter supposition.