A word must be said as to the nature and surroundings of the main ancient road, which topographically is of capital importance. Somewhere along its course must have lain the ancient Agora. Our first impression is, unexpectedly, of narrowness, just as it is when we stand on the other Sacred Way, at Delphi. On the Panathenaic way five persons can only just stand abreast; the chariots must have gone in single file. It is in fact a narrow Oriental street. It is bounded on either side by walls of good polygonal masonry and is hemmed in, as is seen on the map, by houses and precincts. Beneath the road is an elaborate system of drainage pipes with shafts by which they could be entered for cleaning purposes. There are of course many cross-roads, two to the left leading to the Areopagos, one to the Pnyx, another to Koile. The footway leading straight to the Acropolis has already been noted. One of the best preserved portions of the road is that which runs along by the Western side of the precinct of _Dionysos-in-the-Marshes_. Here the polygonal walls on both sides are well preserved. Almost opposite the wine-press we come on buildings which, from inscriptions, can be dated as of the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. These consist of an open exedra, quadrangular in shape and of polygonal masonry. Inside this precinct is a small shrine with no columns, in front of it an altar of _poros_ stone. Both material and technique point to the sixth century B.C. To whom the shrine is dedicated is not known. Thucydides could perhaps have told us. In the course of the century next following the shrine must have fallen into disuse. As the level of the road rose it would, once disused, speedily get covered up. That this was actually the case is clearly shown by the fact that a building of the fourth century B.C. was superimposed. It extended right back to the Pnyx rock. Two boundary stones of this later building are still[280] _in situ_ in the wall bordering on the main road; on each is inscribed ‘Boundary of the Lesche’ (ὅρος λέσχης). Immediately next to the South comes a building of polygonal limestone masonry. Two inscriptions show that this building was mortgaged, so it must have been a private house. Beyond this there is nothing of special interest till we come to the great open place in which stood the fountain Nine-Spouts. The careful engineering of the road, its elaborate drainage, the way it is close packed on either side with houses and sanctuaries leave us no doubt but that in it we have the one and, it appears, the only chariot-way from the agora to the Acropolis. The shrines that line this regular approach lie essentially and emphatically _towards that part of the city_. * * * * *