PHALERON
Attica, Greece.
Despite the antiquity, size, and importance of Phaleron, little of a precise nature is known of its Classical topography and
monuments, even though it is clear from Pausanias especially that the number of its sanctuaries and altars was
large. The general location of the deme is, however, well
established: Herodotos (
6.116) associates Athens' first
port and arsenal with Phaleron; Pausanias describes it as
on the coast (1.1.2), more specifically, 20 stades from
both Athens (8.10.4) and Cape Kolias (1.1.5), the latter
to be identified as Haghios Kosmas; and Strabo names
it first in his enumeration of the coastal demes E of
Piraeus (9.21). These indications, while not in complete harmony, still heavily favor the identification of the
area and headland around the Church of Haghios
Georgios in Palaion Phaleron as the site of the ancient
town, with the broad open roadstead of the Bay of
Phaleron between it and Mounychia to the W as the
harbor. Discoveries at this location have been, and are
still being, made suitable for a deme. Perhaps of greatest significance are the traces of a series of conglomerate blocks that have been followed across the heights of Old Phaleron to the sea, and interpreted as belonging
to the Phaleric Wall recorded by Thucydides (
1.107.1).
Modern development, however, not only has obliterated
almost all such ancient remains, but has also changed
the very nature and position of the coastline.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
J. Day, “Cape Colias, Phalerum and
the Phaleric Wall,”
AJA 36 (1932) 1-11; R. Scranton,
“The Fortifications of Athens at the Opening of the
Peloponnesian War,”
AJA 42 (1938) 525-36
MI; A.
Kalogeropoulou,
Δύο ἀττικὰ ἐπιτύμβια ἀνάγλυφα,
ArchDelt
24 (1969)
Α. Μελέται, 211-19; J. Travlos,
Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Athens (1971) 160, 164
M.
C. W. J. ELIOT
