[155] Several means were used to force citizens to attend the assemblies; the shops were closed; circulation was only permitted in those streets which led to the Pnyx; finally, a rope covered with vermilion was drawn round those who dallied in the Agora (the marketplace), and the late-comers, ear-marked by the imprint of the rope, were fined. [156] Magistrates who, with the Archons and the Epistatae, shared the care of holding and directing the assemblies of the people; they were fifty in number. [157] The Peloponnesian War had already, at the date of the representation of the 'Acharnians,' lasted five years, 431-426 B.C.; driven from their lands by the successive Lacedaemonian invasions, the people throughout the country had been compelled to seek shelter behind the walls of Athens. [158] Shortly before the meeting of the Assembly, a number of young pigs were immolated and a few drops of their blood were sprinkled on the seats of the Prytanes; this sacrifice was in honour of Ceres. [159] The name, Amphitheus, contains the word, [Greek: Theos], _god_. [160] Amongst other duties, it was the office of the Prytanes to look after the wants of the poor. [161] The summer residence of the Great King. [162] Referring to the hardships he had endured garrisoning the walls of Athens during the Lacedaemonian invasions early in the War. [163] Cranaus, the second king of Athens, the successor of Cecrops. [164] Lucian, in his 'Hermotimus,' speaks of these golden mountains as an apocryphal land of wonders and prodigies. [165] Cleonymus was an Athenian general of exceptionally tall stature; Aristophanes incessantly rallies him for his cowardice; he had cast away his buckler in a fight. [166] A name borne by certain officials of the King of Persia. The actor of this part wore a mask, fitted with a single eye of great size. [167] Jargon, no doubt meaningless in all languages. [168] The Persians styled all Greeks 'Ionians' without distinction; here the Athenians are intended. [169] A Greek measure, containing about six modii. [170] Noted for his extreme ugliness and his obscenity. Aristophanes frequently holds him to scorn in his comedies. [171] Ambassadors were entertained there at the public expense. [172] King of Thrace. [173] The tragic poet. [174] A feast lasting three days and celebrated during the month Pyanepsion (November). The Greek word contains the suggestion of fraud ([Greek: apat_e]). [175] A Thracian tribe from the right bank of the Strymon. [176] The Boeotians were the allies of Sparta. [177] Dicaeopolis had brought a clove of garlic with him to eat during the Assembly. [178] Garlic was given to game-cocks, before setting them at each other, to give them pluck for the fight. [179] At the least unfavourable omen, the sitting of the Assembly was declared at an end. [180] The deme of Acharnae was largely inhabited by charcoal-burners, who supplied the city with fuel.