We return to the water-worn stone, the details of which are shown in Fig. 40. This stone is of great architectural importance. From it can be deduced not only the date of the building to which it belonged, but also something of its dimensions and general appearance. The date is fixed by the clamp mark at C. The clamp itself has disappeared, but its shape is proved by the mark of its insertion. Clamps of the [Illustration] shape only appear at Athens in buildings of about the date of Peisistratos, e.g. on the earlier temple of Dionysos Eleuthereus. Our stone belonged to a building of the date of Peisistratos. As regards the character of the building, it is clear from the curve at e which is a segment of a circle, that the stone was at this point cut away to receive a pillar. The unworn condition of the stucco at b leads Professor Dörpfeld to conclude that the stone was a corner stone, the angle protecting the stucco from friction. The distance between these two points, e and b, gives the measurement of the intercolumniations. From this one stone it is _certain_ that a draw-well of the date of Peisistratos existed and that it was surmounted by a colonnade. Its appearance must have been somewhat that of the draw-well (Schoepf-brunnen) restored in Fig. 38. We pass to the consideration of the fountain house Nine-Spouts. [Illustration: FIG. 40.] * * * * * The great open square marked ‘place of the Enneakrounos’ (Fig. 38) is really the site of Nine-Spouts. This is clear from many considerations. 1. Nine-Spouts must have stood over or in front of Fair-Fount which it superseded. Over it would be an impossible situation, because of the Pnyx rock, so we may securely place it in front. 2. Nine-Founts must have stood about two metres below the level of the basin, from which it was fed, in order that the water might flow easily in. 3. At K 2 and K 3 are the beginnings of two ancient subterranean canals which must have been intended to carry off the superfluous water from Nine-Spouts. 4. Straight down to this open place comes the footway from the Acropolis and thither also all the rest of the roads ultimately converge. 5. The place must have been in Greek times an open place, as no foundations of Greek buildings have been found, only the remains of a great Roman house, and under it countless wells. This Roman house consisted of a large atrium with a peristyle of twelve columns and several small chambers surrounding it. The walls are a patchwork of materials of all kinds, and even the bases of the columns are made up of fragments from other buildings. One of these fragments belonging to the draw-well we have already discussed, another, we shall immediately see, belongs to Nine-Spouts itself. * * * * * [Illustration: FIG. 41.]