188 HISTORICAL TALES.

Minerva, or Athené, the patron goddess of the city,
whose ruins are still the greatest marvel of architec-
tural art. Other temples adorned the Acropolis, and
the costly Propylea, or portals, through which passed
the solemn processions on festival days, were erected
at the western side of the hill. The Acropolis was
further adorned with three splendid statues of
Minerva, all the work of Phidias, one of ivory in
the Parthenon, forty-seven feet high, the others of
bronze, one being of such colossal height that it
could be seen from afar by mariners at sea.

The city itself was built upon a scale to corre-
spond with this richness of architectural and artistic
adornment, and such was its encouragement to the
development of thought and art, that poets, artists,
and philosophers flocked thither from all quarters,
and for many years Athens stood before the world as
the focal point of the human intellect.

Not the least remarkable feature in this great
growth was the celerity with which it was achieved.
The period between the Persian and the Peloponne-
sian war was only sixty years in duration. Yet in
that brief space of time the great growth we have
chronicled took place, and the architectural splendor

. of the city was consummated. The devastation of the
unhappy Peloponnesian war put an end to this exter-
nal growth, and left the Athens of old frozen into
marble, a thing of beauty forever. But the intel-
lectual growth went on, and for centuries afterwards
Athens continued the centre of ancient thought.

And now the question in point is how all this came
about, and what made Athens great and glorious