Pnyx

To the west of the Acropolis rises the Hill of the Muses (or Philopappos Hill) and the Hill of the Nymphs. Between them and about 400 metres southwest of the Ancient Agora is the rocky hill of the Pnyx, a well-known landmark associated with the Athenian Republic, as the Ekklesia (Assembly of the Demos), the dominant constitutional body of Athens, convened there.

The first phase of the formation of the hill of the Pnyx to accommodate the civic assemblies dates back to around 500 BCE and is linked to the political reforms of Cleisthenes. During this period, the audience sat on the slope of the rock, which had been appropriately shaped into a hollow, and watched the speaker, whose bema (platform) was located to the north-east. From this first construction phase of the Pnyx, an horos (stone boundary marker) and few traces on the rock have been preserved. At the end of the 5th century BCE, during the reign of the Thirty Tyrants, or at the beginning of the 4th century BCE, when democracy had been restored, the site underwent alterations. Its orientation was changed with the relocation of the bema to the south-west and its capacity was increased as the hollow was shaped with artificial infill.

After the middle of the 4th century BCE, the rock to the southwest was properly carved to create a bema for the speaker. The wide platform, accessed by carved steps, is still visible today. In addition, the semi-circular surface where the citizens gathered was widened and a retaining wall consisting of boulders, which was probably not completed, was built to hold back the backfill of the hollow. It is estimated that, during this period, up to 13,500 people could gather at the Pnyx. To the same building phase belong the foundation trenches of two stoas behind the bema, which were also not completed, and the foundation of the altar of Zeus Agoraeus, protector of the orators, which was later, in the Augustan period, moved in front of the Metroon of the Agora. Finally, to the east of the bema, probably at the end of the 5th century BCE or, according to another view, after the middle of the 1st century CE, the sanctuary of Zeus Hypsistos was founded. Niches on the vertically carved rock, serving as places for votive offerings are preserved to this day.

Behind the platform of the Pnyx, the visitor can see a shallow rectangular carving with the natural rock inside it intact. This has been interpreted as the “Heliotrope” or “Helioscope” (Solar Clock) of Meton, an astronomer, mathematician and geometer of the 5th century BCE. The Heliotrope is an observatory in the form of a square tower, used by ancient scientists to carefully examine the position of the sun and other planets.

The cessation of citizen gatherings at the Pnyx is chronologically placed either at the end of the 4th century BCE, and connected with the relocation of the meetings of the Ekklesia to the theatre of Dionysus, southeast of the Acropolis, or during the Augustinian period (late 1st century BCE – early 1st century CE), when the altar of Zeus Agoraios was moved from the Pnyx to the Ancient Agora. The area of the Pnyx, which was already quite densely populated in the classical period, flourished in the 2nd and 3rd centuries with the settlement of wealthy citizens. During the raid of the Heruli in 267 CE the area suffered damages and was probably abandoned, as its inhabitants moved inside the Late Roman wall. According to other scholars, the area continued to have a residential character but gradually declined, ultimately being abandoned in the 6th century.